Science Surfing
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Red, White, and Algal
Once you’ve seen the White House and the Washington Monument, either in person or virtually, spare a minute for another national treasure: the United States Algal Collection. The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History offers a bite-size introduction to the collection’s tens of thousands of specimens. The Web site describes each of the major […]
- Math
Knot Views
Interested in playing around with some mathematical knots? Manuel Arala Chaves of the University of Porto in Portugal has created a table illustrating all 75 knots with up to 9 crossings in their standard representation. If your computer can handle LiveGraphics3D, you can manipulate the knots in three dimensions and look at them from different […]
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Issues of Medical Research
Should researchers be allowed to tinker with our genetic codes, or create copies of human beings? Could we somehow be harming future generations by aiding sick people today? Public Agenda Online offers a nonpartisan guide to these and other policy issues related to medical research. Go to: http://www.publicagenda.org/issues/frontdoor.cfm?issue_type=medical_research
- Chemistry
Web Elements
Want to know more than just selenium’s symbol, atomic number, and atomic weight? Created by chemist Mark Winter of the University of Sheffield, WebElements provides information on each chemical element’s history, uses, reactions, bulk and thermal properties, and more. Go to: http://www.webelements.com/
- Physics
Caught in a Flash
View the tip of a snapped towel (which moves faster than the speed of sound), then take a look at a bursting water balloon, a collapsing water drop, a tennis ball in mid-collision with a racket, and many other amazing images in this gallery of high-speed photos snapped by high school students. Sorry! This Web […]
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Human Cloning
Did you miss last month’s National Academy of Sciences workshop on scientific and medical aspects of human cloning? You can listen to the recorded presentations via RealPlayer (use the links at Workshop Agenda) and view the accompanying slides (see Speaker Presentations). Go to: http://www7.nationalacademies.org/COSEPUP/Workshop_Agenda.html –updated 8/26/03–VM.
- Tech
Reading Faces
Facial expressions can convey emotional nuances that words fail to communicate. Researcher Terrence Sejnowski has developed a computer program that analyzes images of human faces, purportedly matching the skills of professionals trained to read fleeting expressions of emotion. Learn more in an online article from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s HHMI Bulletin and at the […]
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Door to Antiquity
The Phimai temple complex in Thailand was an important Khmer economic, religious, and military center about 1,000 years ago. Richard M. Levy of the University of Calgary has created an elaborate computer reconstruction of this historic site, allowing visitors to wander the complex without traveling all the way to Thailand. Go to: http://www.phimai.ca/
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Forest in the Clouds
See whether BatCam catches a tropical bat visiting a banana, or review QuetzelCam highlights for a murky but impressive view of how such a long-tailed bird jams its plumage into a nestbox. Or, if the cameras aren’t picking up anything in particular, visitors can listen to short recorded commentaries from such denizens as prong-billed barbets […]
- Astronomy
Anybody Out There?
This elaborate Web site brings together a wide variety of resources devoted to the question of life in the universe. Mounted by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) and other European agencies, the site serves as home base for a competition aimed at eliciting responses from European students to the possibility of extraterrestrial life. […]
- Astronomy
When Galaxies Collide
Dramatic images from the largest computer simulation ever of a plausible collision between the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies highlight this report from the National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure and the San Diego Supercomputer Center. Astrophysicist John Dubinski describes the science underlying the computations. Go to: http://www.npaci.edu/online/v4.9/galaxies2.html and http://www.cita.utoronto.ca/~dubinski/tflops/.
- Planetary Science
Space Flight Basics
For armchair space explorers, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory offers a tutorial on how to operate an interplanetary space mission. Originally created a decade ago, the newly updated guide includes information on spacecraft engineering, mission design, trajectories, launch, navigation, telecommunications, and much more. Go to: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/basics/
