Google Earth

Google Earth
If you haven’t checked out the latest version of Google Earth, you should definitely check it out now. You can now go under the sea and explore underwater trenches. And you can find out information about new diving spots and more information about marine ecology and oceanography.

Biomedical, Forestry, and Module Info

Biomedical Beat
From the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIH), this site says it’s “a monthly digest of research news from NIGMS.” A site with articles, news and images about biomedical research. Another handy site for keeping up with developments in the field.

Forest Encyclopedia Network
Information about Southern forests in the United States. Easy to use, with multiple hyperlinks to definitions of terms which makes it useful for scientists and non-scientists.

Science @ a Distance: e-Learning Modules
Some good information on basic science concepts; however, these are not modules in the Web 2.0 sense of the world. Instead, they are lessons presented in multiple pages of text with links to lessons and other keypoints.

Evolution Resources

Since we just celebrated Darwin’s 200th birthday, I thought I’d share some resources about Darwin and evolution today.

Darwin article from Wired
A quick, easy to understand overview of Darwin’s life and works. There are many links to follow for more information on different topics relating to Darwin and evolution.

Evolution Resources
From the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, this is a great resource. As the website says, it is “a collection of books, reports, statements, papers, and articles about evolution.”

Chemicals from Nature

Amazing Chemicals Invented by Nature, Rebuilt in Lab
This is a fantastic piece by Wired about chemicals discovered in nature, from plants, etc., that are now used by pharmaceutical companies. A really beautifully done piece with photographs of the plants and other organisms found in nature, along with commentary about what chemicals are found and how they are used. Would be great for any class that is looking into naturally-derived pharmaceuticals.

A Year in Review and Organization

Here are two resources that should be interesting and useful.

Copus: A Year of Science 2009
COPUS, Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science, is dedicating this year to increasing the public’s understanding of science. There are a lot of great resources on this site. There are a lot of great organizations that are involved in this coalition and movement.

labmeeting
Here is a free, secure, online repository for storing and sharing information, pdfs, etc. It looks like a good platform for managing citations and papers. And, hey, who can’t use a little help on the organization front? If anyone uses this, please let me know. I’d like to get feedback on this.

Have a great week.