PhysioViva Educational Animations is a sole owner, web-based business with the goal to develop and offer to educators, animations of physiological and biochemical processes for use in teaching Life Sciences.  For 37 years, I was Professor of Insect Physiology in the Department of Entomology at Texas A&M University.  I taught both graduate and undergraduate insect physiology and performed research in endocrinology and neurobiology.  When I retired, I wanted to continue to contribute to education in biology.  Computer drawing and animation has become my hobby, and I have combined my hobby with my love of the biological sciences to develop educational animations to assist biology educators in illustrating the principles of animal physiology and biochemistry. 

The name "PhysioViva" is derived from physiology and viva — Latin for “animated” or “lively”. The goal of the animations is to bring PHYSIOLOGY to LIFE for students.  The logo is based on insect instars (larva, pupa and adult).  It uses the insect physiologist's favorite “white rat”, the tobacco hornworm, as its example.  In the logo, each instar resides within its distinctive subsequent instar as a symbolic depiction of metamorphosis — the dramatic physiological transitions of insect growth and development.

Because my  specialty was insects, many of my animations use insects as models to illustrate the physiological processes. Basic physiological processes (e.g. nervous information transfer, striated muscle structure and contraction) take place in insects in the same manner as they do in other animals, so that describing them with an insect model is applicable to other animals.  In cases where the physiological systems are unique to insects, I have made specific insect animations. The distinctions are clearly separated in my Animations Menu.

Some of the animations offered here for purchase are narrated versions of animations (with text descriptions) that are still available for public use, on my academic website (http://entochem.tamu.edu). However, I am retired, and my website is only maintained at my request because I am aware that a number of people use it as a link for their teaching.  Continued  maintenance  for the academic website is uncertain because of my retired status.

I have received many compliments from students and educators throughout the world for making these animations available on my academic website (see: Testimonials), and many have requested copies of the animations. Therefore, the narrated, improved versions of these, and other newer animations are provided here, at a minimal cost, for scientists, educators or students that wish to have personal copies for use in presentations, classroom teaching or student review. — L. Keeley

“Nature is the Art of God” - Dante Alighieri

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