Two on Powered Flight
Although the centennial anniversary of the Wright Brothers' groundbreaking achievement has come and gone, these two sites provide a unique glimpse into past events and future prospects. First, the companion website to a December 16, 2003 NOVA episode offers a retrospective on the Wright Brothers' Flying Machine. Several interactive features and picture galleries are provided. Additionally, the site includes a description of the first media coverage of the historic flight and an interview with th
EPA: Tools and Literature
Green Chemistry, as its name implies, is an environment friendly practice of using chemistry to prevent pollution. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) created the Green Chemistry Expert System software that can be freely downloaded from this site. The program can be used to assess hazardous substances in chemical reactions, learn about green synthetic methods, design safer chemicals by modifying existing ones, consider alternatives to traditional solvents, or search for additional refer
Electric Vehicle History Online Archive
This website is self-proclaimed as the "first online archive created to encourage electric vehicle enthusiasts to help preserve the recent history of electric vehicles." A wide variety of information is presented, ranging from performance data and historical policy documents to retrospective articles and amusing forecasts of electric vehicle technology from decades past. The operators of the archive encourage electric vehicle drivers and enthusiasts to contribute anything they might have to the
Roman Numerals
This website provides an overview of the Principles of Roman numerals as well as a history of Roman numerals, which dates back to 1st millennium BC when they were used by Romans to record numbers in stone, art and coins. Some pictures in the gallery highlight the ways in which Roman Numerals are used today, such as on watch and clock faces. The authors point out that Roman numerals have a classic style and are less functional than the Arabic (decimal) numbers ( 0 to 9 ) which were introduced int
Beat the Heat at Arizona Science Center
TryScience.com offers an unique energy learning activity called Beat the Heat. This fun and interactive lesson lets users design a house in a particular location and test it in various seasons to best utilize the heat of the sun for energy efficiency. You can choose various types of roofs, windows, solar panels, skylights, and plants, as well as the direction your house faces, to see how each of these variables effects your home's efficiency. This in-depth and intriguing exercise teaches some ve
Boeing: International Space Station
Boeing, the prime contractor for the International Space Station (ISS), has developed this website to provide information on the technology of the program. The ISS will be more than four times as large as the Russian Mir when completed, and is "the largest, most complex international scientific project in history and our largest adventure into space to date." Boeing is responsible for the design, development, construction and integration of the ISS and assisting NASA in operating the orbital out
Project INTERMATH
Project INTERMATH is an effort to reform undergraduate mathematics and related disciplines through the "use of Interdisciplinary Lively Applications Projects." This involves changing the traditional way that math is taught by moving to a more integrated and applied science. The material presented on the project's Web site reflects this approach. Of particular interest are the Products and Topics sections. The Products section has many specific scenarios that cover multiple areas of mathematics a
Hydroelectric Dams
Although hydroelectric power represents a relatively small portion of the world's energy resources, it is still an important commodity with great potential. To harness hydropower, civil engineers must design dams that convert the kinetic energy of water into electricity.The fundamentals of general-use dams are discussed on the home page of the US Society on Dams (1). Besides providing brief background information, there are a few examples of the benefits of dams to society. For a much more techn
Physicians for Social Responsibility: MercuryActionNOW
MercuryActionNOW is an "online resource created by Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) to provide health care professionals and concerned citizens with information about the effects of mercury emissions on public health." The website is full of links to reports, fact sheets, letters, and other websites regarding mercury-related pollution and health issues. Examples include a downloadable Salmon Contaminant Factsheet; the Environmental Protection Agency's Mercury website; the CDC's Second
Ocean World: Coral Reefs
Texas A&M University presents Ocean World, a Web-based educational resource for oceanography. The feature on coral reefs has the most direct life sciences application, with easy-to-navigate sections about the coral animal, coral reefs as the rainforests of the sea, symbiosis, ecosystem services, and coral reef threats and conservation. The Web site also includes a handy hypertext glossary, an interactive quiz, and annotated links to interesting Web sites, including sites that provide real-time r
Grothendieck Circle
This is the website for a long-term project called the Grothendieck Circle which aims to make publicly available (and in some cases translate) the material written by and about mathematician Alexandre Grothendieck. They also hope to provide biographical material on Grothendieck's life and his origins. As of this report they have posted several of his writings along with other online resources of his work. Given that many of his texts are unpublished or are out-of-print, the collection is one-of-
Stanford University Medical Center: Ovarian Kaleidoscope Database
The Ovarian Kaleidoscope Database (OKDB) was developed by the Hsueh Lab in the Department of Gynecology & Obstetrics at Stanford University Medical Center. The OKDB "provides information regarding the biological function, expression pattern and regulation of genes expressed in the ovary. It also contains information on gene sequences, chromosomal localization, human and murine mutation phenotypes and biomedical publication links." Database users can conduct a Gene Search, or browse an extensive
Wayne's Word: Lemnaceae
This instructional website on Lemnaceae--aka the Duckweed family--was created by Professor Wayne P. Armstrong of Palomar College. The informative site contains concise text sections accompanied by excellent images and diagrams of duckweeds. Site visitors will also find A Key to the Genera of Lemnaceae, a Worldwide Lemnaceae Species List, and descriptions of Species of Lemnaceae In Western North America. This site is housed within Armstrong's larger website, Wayne's Word: An Online Natural Histor
MultiMedia Schools
"MultiMedia Schools (MMS) is a practical how-to magazine sharply focused on the needs of school practitioners." It is published six times a year, and roughly half of its articles are made available for free online. In the last issue of 2002, the editorial offers suggestions for how school media specialists can take advantage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Other articles discuss a proposed technology-integrated teaching system, tools and techniques to continuously improve and adapt to c
Maths Challenge.net
Maths Challenge is a fun activity to build mathematical and reasoning skills. Each month during the school year, a new set of math problems are posted online. There are miscellaneous problems at junior and senior levels, cryptography and code breaking problems, and computer programming challenges. Each section is appropriate for a different age range, but the most basic material starts at age eleven and increases from there. To participate in the programming exercises, a simple registration is r
The Pherobase
The Pherobase was developed by Dr. Ashraf El-Sayed, a research scientist at HortResearch in New Zealand, with the primary objective of providing "coverage of the literature published on chemical communication in insects." The Pherobase is intended for use by both scientific and non-scientific communities and currently contains "over 10000 entries, around 3000 molecules, and over 32000 static html pages that make it the world's largest database of behavior modifying chemicals." The site contains
Data Products at COAPS
Florida State University's Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies (COAPS) (last mentioned in the February 28, 2001 Scout Report for Science & Engineering) provides a wealth of information on its Data Products at COAPS Web site. Visitors have access to scatterometry, ocean surface meteorology fluxes, and ocean psuedostress products, among others. The site also contains relevant publications and research information for those interested.
USGS: National Geochemical Survey Database
The USGS's National Geochemical Survey (NGS) is producing "a body of geochemical data for the United States based primarily on stream sediments, analyzed using a consistent set of methods." After learning the history and background of the project, users can access the NGS data by geographic area. The website allows researchers to compare the analytical methods and view national maps illustrating the distribution of these methods for each element. Visitors can easily view maps of the distribution
Classroom Activities
StarDate.org is the public education and outreach department of the University of Texas McDonald Observatory, which offers astronomy resources for teaches on their Classroom Activities site. The various projects are categorized by age and grade level including k-4, 5-8, and 9-12. Each provides a teachers guide, materials needed, a description of the process, any needed links (such as the StarDate Moon Phase Calculator within the Observing the Moon activity), and even printable versions of each l
Mars Exploration Rover Mission
Scheduled for launch in 2003, two NASA rovers will set out to explore Mars and determine whether water ever existed on the planet. This is the home page of the Mars rovers, and it has a great deal of information about the specifications and technology of the missions. Detailed descriptions of the scientific instruments equipped on each rover are provided. Color diagrams show the main components of the rovers. A special section is dedicated to the camera systems, which are used for hazard avoidan
