TimeTree HD vs Interactive Life Cycles

TimeTree 4 is a public knowledge-base for information on the evolutionary timescale of life. This application allows easy exploration of the thousands of divergence times among organisms in the scientific literature. A tree-based (hierarchical) system is used to identify all published molecular time estimates bearing on the divergence of two chosen organisms, such as species, compute summary statistics, and present the results. Names of two taxa to be compared are entered in the search window and the results are presented on a set of self-explanatory tabs. TimeTree 4 contains data from 2,274 studies including 50,632 species. We will be adding more data in the future as it comes in from researchers. TimeTree 4 requires iOS 8.0 or newer. The TimeTree project is jointly directed by Blair Hedges (Center for Biodiversity, Temple University) and Sudhir Kumar (Institute for Genomics and Evolutionary Medicine, Temple University). This project has been supported, in part, by grants from the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, NASA Astrobiology Institute, and Science Foundation of Arizona.

Select the topic that you wish to explore by tapping an icon. Continue tapping buttons to explore even more interesting facts. Each type of animal life cycle is illustrated in detail with descriptions giving even more information. Tap a button access interesting data about each of the topics with include the structures and functions, sexual reproduction, types of transformation that occur during the life cycle and biological processes like metamorphosis -- all presented in an interactive format. Tap the info button to read interesting facts about each important each topic. Teachers will really like this app. After students have read about either plant or animal cells, they can tap the quiz button to measure their reading comprehension. In addition to the quiz there is also a word game that helps students review the information presented. Charts are used to present special views and even more information about stages in the life cycle of representative animals including metamorphosis in insects and organogenesis in mammals. Interactive Life Cycle Explorer is available for iOS and tvOS devices. It is just beautiful on a big screen TV and would be a wonderfully exciting tool in any science classroom.