The Complete Morris's British Birds 1891
Individually produced by Ash Midcalf, this Web site contains digitized images from the Reverend Francis Orpen Morris's A History of British Birds, published in 1891. Artist-naturalists like Morris and Audubon created painstakingly true-to-life depictions of the planet's flora and fauna in the days before reliable photography. Visitors to this Web site can browse through pages of thumbnails, choose from the complete list of images, or use the search feature to view any of the 394 prints available
NPR: Titanic Baby
This Web site contains an audio file of a story broadcast on National Public Radio earlier this month. The broadcast relates the poignant story of a four-year effort to identify the exhumed body of a 13-month-old child who died in the Titanic disaster. A metal medallion buried with the body serendipitously preserved a bit of the wrist bone, from which forensic scientists could extract mitochondrial DNA and eventually find the child's living relatives.
Net-Weather
Net-Weather presents a host of meteorological information for the UK at this website. Users can find out seasonal, monthly, 10-day, and additional relevant weather forecasts. The Charts and Data link offers live satellite images, links to numerous forecast models, and data on sea temperatures and anomalies. For people who like winter and snow, the website offers interesting stories about famous British winters as well as snow reports. The Net-Weather Forum is a great place to discuss any weather
Daily Lesson Plan: Brain Brands
Why do those holiday cookies and candies -- placed conveniently at child height at the cash register -- get you drooling and entice you to fill your cart with unintended purchases? It might be neuromarketing at work. In this thought-provoking activity, created by Georgia Scurletis and Briget Anderson and offered through the _New York Times_ LearningNetwork, students (grades 6 - 12) are challenged to think about how branding and marketing may influence their taste more than their taste buds thems
Museum of the Future
This Web site, operated by the Ars Electronica Center in Austria, provides an online tour of a fascinating museum. It can be a little confusing to navigate at first, but it is certainly worth visiting. The main attraction is the Guide through the Museum of the Future. After clicking this link, it is important to note the language selector that chooses between German and English. Six different sections of the museum can be explored by the icons on the right, and each section has several different
Citrus Canker: The Pathogen and Its Impact
This Web site, currently featured on the home page of the American Phytopathological Society, contains a research report regarding the Asiatic citrus canker that has had devastating effects on Florida's citrus industry. The report, in a journal article format, thoroughly relates the natural history and current status of the disease, as well as detailing the methods and results of the (primarily genetic) experiments conducted in this study. One of the most appealing features of this Web site is t
Ocean Report Guide for Educators
The Ocean Report is a series of radio segments produced for SeaWeb that highlight a range of news and issues relating to the ocean. The Ocean Report Guide for Educators offers a comprehensive educational Web site based on these short radio pieces. Compiled by SeaWeb and KIDSNET, this Web site (designed for grades 4-8) is divided into three modules: Precious, Threatened Oceans; Teeming with Life: Amazing Ocean Creatures; and Protecting Our Seas: How You Can Help. Each section contains in-depth ba
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.
From Jungle to Lab: The Study of Life's Complexity
San Francisco's Exploratorium showcases the work of researchers at the Natural History Museum in London and Las Cuevas Biological Station in Belize, who are investigating the nature and diversity of life. From Jungle to Lab is part of the Exploratorium's Origin Project, created to explain how scientists explore "the beginnings of the universe, of matter, of the earth, and of life itself." This well-designed Web site contains loads of multimedia features, such as a slide show of Las Cuevas (inclu
Predictions 2005
Gartner, Inc., which provides research and analysis on the global IT industry for clients worldwide, offers annual predictions for the year ahead in the areas of technology, application, and industry. This section of the website highlights the firm's 2005 predictions for technology. Some of the technologies addressed in this issue include open source software, public network infrastructure, and mobile and wireless technologies. The full document must be purchased, but visitors may browse through
The Thylacine Museum: A Natural History of the Thylacinidae
This Web site is offered through C. Campbell's Natural Worlds, a "completely nonprofit, education online series which exists as a means of providing detailed information on a variety of topics within the natural history field." The Thylacine Museum, not surprisingly, is devoted to the now extinct thylacine (also known as the Tasmanian tiger). The site includes "information covering virtually all aspects of this very unique Australian marsupial." Users can browse dozens of pages of detailed artic
Drought Resources and Information
The Drought Resources and Information Web site is maintained by the Utah State University Extension Water Resource Issues Team, which was created to "address information needs related to water conservation and quality in agriculture and urban settings." The site provides information on several subjects including landscape irrigation, agricultural water uses, home water conservation, drought and weather monitoring, and more.
Café Scientifique
Café Scientifique, supported by the independent research-funding charity Wellcome Trust and many local sponsors, "is a forum for the discussion of important and interesting scientific issues that is much more informal and accessible than a public lecture." Visitors can find out the current locations of the meetings throughout the world as well as read newspaper articles featuring a few of these gatherings. At the website, users can find out what to expect when attending Café Scientifique gathe
UK Particle Physics, Astronomy, and Space Science (PPARC): Frontiers
The Frontiers publication offers the latest news and activities of the Research Council's funded projects and the UK Particle Physics, Astronomy, and Space Science's (PPARC) funded scientists. Produced three times a year, each issue is easy to navigate with quick links to the space science and particle physics articles on the Contents page as well as a keyword search. The website offers archives of the publication since 1997. Each issue contains five sections: the Contents, Editorial, Update, Fe
USC Institute for Creative Technologies: Graphics Lab
The Graphics Lab is part of the University of Southern California's Institute for Creative Technologies. The lab performs research on computer graphics and modeling techniques such as image-based lighting, range scanning, and animation. This is all made possible by a U.S. Army contract "to advance the state of immersive training simulation." The Lab's homepage offers many details on the various projects within each research area; there are several publications that can be downloaded to complemen
Sloan Digital Sky Survey
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey "will map in detail one-quarter of the entire sky, determining the positions and absolute brightnesses of more than 100 million celestial objects" as well as "measure the distances to more than a million galaxies and quasars." The website details the Astrophysical Research Consortium (ARC) mapmaking strategies, timelines, survey progress, and project goals. Visitors can view the many fantastic images collected at the Apache Point Observatory, the site of the SDSS tel
Museum of Southwestern Biology: Mammals
The Mammal Collection at the University of New Mexico's Museum of Southwestern Biology (MSB) "contains over 118,000 specimens, mostly from the southwestern United States, Mexico, Central and South America, but there are also large holdings from other portions on North America, Japan, Africa, and Eurasia." MSB offers a searchable database of the Mammal Collection with search fields for Order, Family, Species, Continent/Ocean, Country, Sex, Season, and more. MSB specimen loans are available to "re
Consensus CoDing Sequence Database
The Consensus CoDing Sequence (CCDS) Database "project is a collaborative effort to identify a core set of human protein-coding regions that are consistently annotated and of high quality. The long-term goal is to support convergence toward a standard set of gene annotations on the human genome." CCDS project collaborators include the National Center for Biotechnology (NCBI), European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI), Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (WTSI), and University of California, Santa Cruz
ARS Water Database
From the Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory of the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) comes the ARS Water Database Web site. The database is a collection of precipitation and streamflow data from small agricultural watersheds in the United States, including variable time-series readings sufficient in detail to reconstruct storm hydrographs and hyetographs. Users can choose from any US state to view available data. Each station is listed along with its location, coverage area in acres,
PSRC: Physical Sciences Resource Center
Developed by the American Association of Physics Teachers, "the Physical Sciences Resource Center (PSRC) is a web-based databank that provides K-20 teachers links to a wide range of teaching and learning resources in the physical sciences." Users can search the numerous resources by topics, type, or keyword. With each entry, the website provides a description, information on the author, subjects covered, level, intended users, resource types, possible costs, and other useful facts. Interested in
