You can become an online participant in tests of how the mind uses and processes words at this several-month-old site, administered by Harvard University's Cognition and Language Laboratory (with collaborators at other institutions). Alternatively, you can just read the results from earlier experiments. They're quick, fun, and sometimes embarrassingly challenging.Go to: http://coglanglab.org

Three major business schools have teamed up to map some 20,000 sources of industrial pollution. You can search for polluters in a particular region, in a designated industry, or those associated with a named company, then probe their emissions by type and quantity, look at how their pollutant trends have changed over time, and compare their emissions to others in the same industry. Recommendation: The several-minute video tutorial offers an effective way to quickly get up to speed on using this clever site.Go to: http://mapecos.org

Colorful and compelling, this science-rich, 15-minute video offers an up-close glimpse into the weird world of segmented worms—from nightcrawlers and leeches to feathery coral-dwelling dazzlers.Go to: http://www.scivee.tv/node/2751

With the new year, people start thinking about dieting and developing better overall health habits. Want to know which regions of the nation started out the year as the most and least healthy—and by what measures? Turn to new maps prepared by the Agriculture Department and click on the state(s) of interest. Agency scientists have mapped—by state (and the District of Columbia)—indicators of nutritional health as compiled from nationally representative survey data for everyone from infants to adults. For easy comparison, each state's values appear next to those for the nation as a...

Although the United Nations has officially designated 2008 as the International Year of Planet Earth, the 3-year celebration actually began a year ago and will continue through December 2009. The program's ultimate goal: "to build safer, healthier and wealthier societies around the globe" through a better appreciation for and harnessing of Earth sciences. The UN describes this focus on the interrelatedness of climate, natural resources, and living communities as helping to support its mission to foster sustainable use of Earth's materials and "better planning and management to reduce risks for...

The apparently fictitious "Institute for the Promotion of the Less than One Millimeter" offers a visual smorgasbord of microbiological images. Wim van Egmond describes his "Micropolitan Museum" as portraits of what he can scoop up with a pipette or tweezers. He's got marine and freshwater collections, a botanical garden, and an insectarium. The latter two aren't truly invisible—although the structural details that van Egmond captures would be missed by the naked eye.Go to: http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/micropolitan

Having trouble cracking the code that geneticists use to describe new molecular advances in health and medicine? Well, researchers at the University of Massachusetts have developed a program aimed at helping the public acquire the tools—including vocabulary, and background information—necessary to "become comfortable with genome issues, and to learn how to take advantage of the new discoveries and medical advancements made possible by our knowledge of the Human Genome Project."Go to: http://www.biochem.umass.edu/mydna/

One can learn a lot by studying clouds—or just relax and soak in their beauty. Subscribers to both schools can find plenty of fodder in the British Cloud Appreciation Society's gallery of nearly 3,200 photos. They're organized by meteorological type, optical effects, and even by what a cloud might resemble—like "Casper the Ghost, spotted over Nevada City."Go to: http://www.cloudappreciationsociety.org/gallery

Alliance for Science seeks to unite prominent scientists and other influential opponents of creationism "to educate the public about the different but complementary roles of science and religion; to improve the teaching of science in our public schools; and to restore the excitement about science and discovery." One new enterprise it's sponsoring: an essay contest for high school students on climate and evolution and on agriculture and evolution. The deadline for both contests is Feb. 29, 2008.Go to: http://www.allianceforscience.org

We're well into the International Polar Year, which actually runs for 2 years. The program, which is coordinating teams doing Arctic and Antarctic research, will allow the public to periodically check in on developments. For instance, people will be able to follow polar animals as they fly around the Antarctic, swim through the oceans, or migrate through the Arctic, using Google Earth. Follow ships carrying scientists around the poles, view their photos and videos, and download some of their data in almost real-time.Go to: http://www.ipy.org/