How can a site about Biology built by some guy originally from a small Caribbean island reach over 5 MILLION PEOPLE all over the world?
So here’s the real deal. We all know that there are MANY people out there who don’t like biology. Ok, ok, there are even many out there who HATE it with a Passion. I know . . . it’s hard to believe – such a fascinating topic with so much valuable information and people actually don’t like it. Can you fancy that?
Here’s the thing – I have a theory. My theory is that most people who don’t like it, don’t like it because of the way it was taught to them – A bunch of $100 words by a very intelligent teacher. Now, I’m not trying to bash teachers because they (we) are important. However, sometimes, it is necessary to break down concepts into little bite-sized chunks.
That is what Interactive Biology is all about – Breaking down the concepts in biology so that if a Freshman in High School wants to understand Graduate-level Neurobiology, with enough discipline, she could do so.
Technology is AWESOME, and I enjoy using it to enhance my teaching. The internet continues to amaze me. It’s such a useful tool that can help anyone who wants to learn about any subject. Well, if biology is the subject you want to learn about, this is the site for you.
These are some of the COOL things you will find here:
- A bunch of cool short Videos breaking down concepts of biology, one step at a time. For right now, I’m covering topics in physiology and neuroscience, and it will take time to get it all out there, but it’s all coming, so hold on to your seats.
- My lecture Videos. These are from the High School Biology 1 Class I used to teach way back in the days (2006-2010-ish).
- All kinds of other junk. My wife hates when I say junk to describe awesome stuff. I mean junk in a good way. And as I create more and more resources, I will be sharing them here with you.
So who is Leslie Samuel, the guy behind this COOL SITE??
I’m Glad you asked 🙂
My name is Leslie Samuel, and I hate starting paragraphs with statements like “My name is Leslie Samuel”. However, it seemed like the thing to do at the time.
Originally from the beautiful Caribbean island of St. Maarten, I spent many of my childhood years hanging out with friends and getting to know people. That’s what I love, and St. Maarten was a great place to do that.
At the age of 17, I moved to Michigan to attend Andrews University – Such a great experience. After graduating with a B.S. in Biology/Zoology, I went on for an M.S. in Biology with an emphasis in Neurobiology.
While doing my Master’s Degree with an emphasis in Neurobiology, I had the privilege of doing research both at my university in Berrien Springs, Michigan and the Georg August University in Goettingen, Germany.
My Masters research involved doing extracellular recordings from the L3 interneuron in the cricket A. domesticus and also AN2 in the cricket G. Bimaculatus – a species that is found in Germany, where the other half of my research took place. If it sounds complex, it’s because it kinda was, but I did learn a TON.
I found my passion for biology while in the class Systems Physiology, especially when I started learning about the nervous system. The complexity of a neuron really fascinated me to the extent that the notes I took in that class (and other classes since) have been used by many students over the years and forms the basis for the videos provided here.
I started this blog because I wanted to be a university professor. There was one problem. I didn’t have a Ph.D. and after doing the research I did for my master’s degree, I decided that a Ph.D. wasn’t for me. Instead, I just wanted to teach. So I gave up on my dream job and started teaching science and math at a high school.
But I still wanted to teach university-level biology (especially the really geeky stuff). So, I decided to start this site and YouTube channel to teach what I wanted to teach.
In an interesting sequence of events, this same website landed me my dream job as a university professor in the Doctor of Physical Therapy program at Andrews University. The classes I taught were Gross Anatomy, Human Anatomy, Neuroscience, Pathophysiology I and II – All the fun and exciting classes (in my humble opinion).
Oh, another really cool thing that happened as a result of me creating Interactive Biology is that I’ve been able to be on a show called Strange Evidence on the Science Channel. They had me as an “expert biologist” helping to try to uncover the meaning behind mysterious incidents caught on camera. Here are two clips from two of the episodes I’m on.
Three years after starting my job as a professor, I decided to leave that job to focus on my online business (which included this website). But through another interesting sequence of events, I ended up selling this site in 2017, only to buy it back in June of 2021.
Let’s just say – I tried to leave biology behind, but it just wouldn’t leave me behind. We are now back together again, and I’m determined to make the most amazing biological resource on the internet.
So yeah – That’s pretty much it for me for now. Hope you enjoy the site. If you are finding value in it, be sure to let me know.