Applied Physics Laboratory 2002 Annual Report
The John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory has a core purpose to "core enhance the security of the nation through the application of science and technology." This includes research on missile, radar, sonar, sensor, chemical/ biological, and information technologies; space science and engineering, microelectronics; communications; navigation; modeling and simulation; and advanced research and technology development. The report's contents include a Message from the Director, as well as
National Geographic Xpeditions
"Xpeditions is home to the U.S. National Geography Standards--and to thousands of ideas, tools, and interactive adventures that bring them to life." While the countless lesson plans cover a wide variety of geography-related topics, the ones involving the physical sciences include: Mars Mobiles, Oil and Water in the Middle East, River Sources and Stories, and How are Islands Formed?. The Activities link offers numerous stimulating interactive modules and articles. Because the materials are sorted
Biodiversity and Conservation Research
The Center for Biodiversity and Conservation (CBC) at the American Museum of Natural History aims to "integrate scientific research, education, and outreach so that people, themselves major catalysts in the rapid loss of biodiversity, will become participants in its conservation." The CBC currently conducts biodiversity conservation research in the Bahamas, Bolivia, Madagascar, Vietnam, and in metropolitan New York. Click on What We Do for brief descriptions of each research project. The project
Garden Questions: Horticulture and Crop Science in Virtual Perspective
Garden Questions is a joint project of the Ohio State University Department of Horticulture and Crop Science and the OSU Extension's Franklin County Office. The Web site offers an archive of gardening questions and answers that's easy to use and quite comprehensive. Users may search the archive by topic, season, and keyword, or send new gardening questions by email. Many of the questions posted include helpful photographs, especially for questions about specific plants. Gardeners should find thi
Institute for Mathematics and Applications: Mathematics of Materials and Macromolecules: Multiple Sc
The Institute for Mathematics and Applications (IMA) developed this website to promote its conferences and workshops dealing with the applications of mathematics in the study of materials and molecules. Visitors can find information on a particular event's schedule, participants, and accommodations as well as abstracts. The events dealing with the physical sciences include workshops dealing with atomic motion, macroscopic models, and biophysics as well as a program about environmental and geophy
Glossary of Energy Terms
The California Energy Commission's Web site contains a great resource entitled the Glossary of Energy Terms. If you're interested in energy topics or happen to come across an unfamiliar term, this tool will be of great use. Simply choose the letter of the term and hope that it's included -- for example, DAYLIGHTING, which is defined as "The use of sunlight to supplement or replace electric lighting." If you quickly get through the hundreds of terms within the dictionary, the main page offers a l
VESTAC: Java Applets for Visualization of Statistical Concepts
This collection of over 30 Java applets is quite impressive, both in content and in presentation. Operated at a university in Belgium, Visualization of and Experimentation with Statistical Concepts (VESTAC) is the title of the project that developed these educational tools. The applets are very intricate, with many functions and graphical capabilities; they are therefore quite large and can take some time to download on a slow connection. The four main categories of material are basic concepts,
2001 Annual Energy Review
The US Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration (EIA) describes itself as providing policy-independent data, forecasts, and analyses to promote sound policy making, efficient markets, and public understanding regarding energy and its interaction with the economy and the environment. The EIA Web site provides many informational pages and publications including the newly released 2001 Annual Energy Review. The report covers fossil fuels, nuclear electricity, renewable energy, and t
EuroHaptics 2003
Haptics is the science of incorporating touch and physical stimuli into computer applications. A haptics interface can allow the user to feel responses from a program, thereby providing an additional level of perception in a virtual environment, for example. This site hosts the proceedings of the 2003 EuroHaptics conference. Over 30 papers and several more poster presentations are available, spanning the areas of interaction, hardware, algorithms, and psychophysics. Proceedings of the 2001 and 2
International HapMap Project
An international coalition -- with scientists from Canada, China, Japan, Nigeria, the U.K., and the U.S. -- the HapMap project seeks to "develop a haplotype map of the human genome, the HapMap, which will describe the common patterns of human DNA sequence variation." At the site, visitors can take advantage of the bulk downloads of data available here, including several datasets of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), genotype and frequency data, SNP assays, and more. Some of the data require
UW-Arboretum: Earth Partnership Program: Prairie Fire Survey
This website presents an educational Prairie Fire Survey that was developed by the Earth Partnership Program (EPP) of the University of Wisconsin Arboretum, home to the oldest restored prairie in the world. The goal of the survey is "to help students understand the role and change fire plays in the prairie." To this end, the site provides background information on forces that have shaped prairies over time and reasons why fire benefits prairies. The website describes two activities, including ne
Metal Storm
The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is exploring a unique application of biometrics technologies: a handgun that can recognize its owner and only fire when being held by that person. This innovation could make it impossible for a criminal to steal an officer's firearm and use it against other people. Metal Storm, the company that is working with the NIJ to develop the gun, has presentations and technology descriptions on its home page.
The Algodones Dunes, California
The Center for Biological Diversity blends "conservation biology with litigation, policy advocacy, and an innovative strategic vision" in efforts to protect endangered species and wild places, focusing on the western US. This Web site contains a slide show of images from the Algodones Dunes, California's largest dune system. The fourteen slides show images of the area's natural history and environmental threats, such as effects from off-road vehicles. Each slide is accompanied by a brief descrip
Mindshare: PC System Architecture
Mindshare is a company that specializes in technical training for a variety of computer technologies. Five short courses can be accessed from the Mindshare home page at no charge, after completing a quick registration. The online courses give an overview of the "PCI-X System Architecture, Rambus, USB 2.0, PCI Power Management, and Infiniband System Architecture." Each of these technologies is introduced with a virtual presentation, which shows video of the speaker and the slides used in the talk
The Warming World: Designing for Climate Change
A workshop held in January 2003 attempted to ascertain how engineers and scientists need to change their practices to account for global warming. Road and bridge damage caused by "increased sediment loads in streams, catastrophic landslides, snow avalanches, and riverside flooding" necessitates a reevaluation of engineering design methods. Eight presentations from the workshop are given in slide form on this Web site. An executive summary is also provided, which outlines some of the proposed cha
Ars Technica: CPU and Chipset Guide
An informative collection of articles on computer hardware and operation is presented by Ars Technica. Many of the more recent articles (July 2002 to February 2003) have shifted from focusing on specific technologies and platforms to explaining basic principles of computer architecture. This includes "pipelining and superscalar execution," bandwidth and latency, multithreading, and CPU caching. Other articles delve inside new microprocessors and describe new features and notable architectural im
Mechanical Engineering: Power 2002
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers presents this special edition of its Mechanical Engineering Magazine Online. Released in June 2002, the focus of this publication is electric power. Research efforts and new technologies for a variety of applications are outlined in five feature articles. One article covers turbo pumps in the space shuttle, considering how to minimize cavitation problems to make the pumps more efficient. Another looks at research into flow oscillations that plague gas
Ecological Footprint: The Role of Technology
In this two-minute sound segment, the director of the Sustainability Program for the public policy group Redefining Progress discusses the concept of ecological overshoot. He reminds us that today we use more than what nature can regenerate, and that as long as we use more, we are depleting the natural capital and liquidating our most essential assets. This site is from an archive of a daily radio program called Pulse of the Planet, which provides its listeners with a portrait of Planet Earth, t
Evolution ExplorationsAnimals/Human body lesson plan (grades 6-8)--DiscoverySchool.com
In this two day lesson, students will learn that humans have behavioral traits and characteristics in common with other animals. The website includes the lesson plan, discussion prompts, evaluation guidelines, extensions, a glossary, and MCREL standards.
Warning Signs for Dangerous Times : Exploring the Use of Storm-Tracking Technologies
In this lesson, students explore the use of storm-tracking technologies, research how natural disasters are predicted, and assess the importance of these technologies. A case study of a New England snow storm and its impacts is presented for discussion, along with suggestions for retrieving information about forecasts as well as links to weather prediction and warning sites.
