URL of the Week  2002

December 30, 2002 -- The Probability Web
While it may not help you win in Vegas, this site is packed with links on chance, probability, and statistics, the bulwarks of disciplines from nuclear physics to evolutionary theory. This site from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, offers all the familiar resources, including links to journals and societies, and a researche directory. Teachers and students can boost their knowledge with half a dozen online texts and tutorials, ranging from a primer aimed at liberal arts majors to advanced theory that delves into topics such as Gaussian vectors and complex spaces. For a break, read what notables ranging from Aristotle to Agatha Christie have had to say about chance and probability. 
http://www.mathcs.carleton.edu/probweb/probweb.html

December 23, 2002 -- Mill Hill Essays
The jargon-free Mill Hill Essays offer straight talk about timely questions in medicine and biology. Published annually for the last 7 years by Britain's National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), the essays explain subjects as diverse as the controversy over xenotransplantation and the origin of the 1918-19 "Spanish" flu. Tom Kirkwood, an authority on aging at Newcastle University, U.K., describes how genes for longevity mesh with our understanding of the evolution of senescence, and NIMR scientist Robin Lovell-Badge explores the promise and pitfalls of stem cells.
http://www.nimr.mrc.ac.uk/millhillessays/2001

December 16, 2002 -- Metabolic Pathways
This site was sent to us by Dan Wivagg at Baylor University. It contains a
series of printable and projectable metabolic pathways such as the Citric
Acid Cycle. The detail may be more than you need for a regular biology
class, but it can be useful for AP and university level students, as well as
students who are taking human physiology and anatomy classes. Thanks, Dan,
for sending us this one!
http://www.genome.ad.jp/kegg/metabolism.html

December 09, 2002 -- Moths of North America
Visitors to the Guadalupe Mountains of west Texas might glimpse a handsome
silk moth hunting for a willow on which to lay her eggs. This site holds a
rich vein of information on the distinguishing marks, life history, and
conservation status of these nocturnal insects. The handy moth resources
include county-by-county range maps, species checklists for the lower 48
states of the United States, and distribution data for northern Mexico. If
you are having trouble identifying a specimen, illustrated accounts profile
more than 100 common species and can help you pin down the name of your
catch.
http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/lepid/moths/mothsusa.htm

December 2, 2002 --UCLA Department of Epidemiology
If you need to find the most recent studies on the social life of the
Philippine tarsier, Jane Goodall's early papers on nest building in wild
chimpanzees, then PrimateLit, a well-stocked bibliography of primate books,
papers, reports, abstracts, and dissertations hosted by the University of
Wisconsin, Madison may be just what you're looking for. Each record provides
the basic citation information and allows you to easily locate other works
by the same author or covering the same subject, geographical area, species,
or taxonomic group. You can search the latest entries or prowl the "ancient"
literature, which extends back to 1940. 
http://primatelit.library.wisc.edu/

November 25, 2002 -- CDC Bioterrorism Information
Doctors and other health professionals are our bioterrorism sentinels, alert
for suspicious cases that might signal an attack. Making that job a little
easier is this cache of bioweapons information from the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention in Atlanta. The site features the latest on vaccines,
treatment, and diagnosis, as well as germane articles from CDC publications.
Anthrax and smallpox get extensive coverage, but you'll also find
information on tularemia, plague, botulism, and viral hemorrhagic fevers
such as Ebola.
http://www.bt.cdc.gov/HealthProfessionals/index.asp

November 18, 2002 -- FlyNome
Fear of intimacy, celibate, heartless, numb, drop dead. Highlights from a
Cosmo article on today's dating scene? Maybe, but they're also the names of
fruit fly genes. Mixing entomology with etymology, the FlyNome site
explicates the stories behind these and some 80 other quirky monikers for
Drosophila genes.
http://www.flynome.com

November 18, 2002 -- IUPAC Dictionary
Are you confuses by the difference between lecithins and lectins, or alkanes and alkenes? The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry Dictionary offers this dictionary, the 1997 edition of the popular “Gold Book,” a compendium of the latest terms. There are nearly 7,000 definitions.
http://www.chemsoc.org/chembytes/goldbook

November 11, 2002 -- UCLA Department of Epidemiology
Today’s epidemiologists stand on the shoulders of John Snow (1813-1858), the English anesthesiologist whose methodical investigations showed that cholera spreads through polluted water. Reserved, fastidious, and determined, Snow comes alive at this site curated by epidemiologist Ralph Frerichs of the University of California, Los Angeles. Follow Snow's life and illustrious with several biographical sketches, memoirs from friends, maps, book extracts, and slide shows. Or read the full text of his 1855 treatise On the Mode of Communication of Cholera, a model of epidemiological detective work that included Snow's map of cholera cases in the Soho district of London. The coffin-shaped rectangles marking cholera deaths clustered around the infamous Broad Street pump, which supplied drinking water for the victims and, Snow realized, was the source of the gut-wrenching bacteria.  For more on epidemiology, Frerichs's linked site on bioterrorism features a case-by-case rundown of the recent anthrax outbreak. The HIV Controversies page includes discussions of contentious HIV-control strategies such as widespread testing and partner notification. http://www.ph.ucla.edu/epi/snow.html

November 4, 2002 -- Stem Cell Registry
The registry of human embryonic stem cell lines approved by the National Institutes of Health is now available. The site lists 67 lines at 11 institutions, describes characteristics for some, and includes 
e-mail addresses for requesting them. About 50 lines are currently available to researchers.
http://escr.nih.gov/

October 28, 2002 -- On the Wings of Insects
I've always liked flipbooks - even wanted them in the margins of my textbook
(but my editors didn't see it my way!). At this friendly little site,
students create a mini flipbook to recreate the illusion of flight of a
dragonfly's wings. Templates for the flipbook and notes for teachers are
included.
http://www.pbs.org/saf/1109/teaching/teaching3.htm

October 21, 2002 -- Atlas of Exotic Species
ATLAS: Mediterranean Invasion
Hundreds of exotic creatures have wandered into the Mediterranean from the
Atlantic, sneaked through the Suez Canal, or been introduced by people. One
invader, the Caulerpa alga, is smothering native species in many spots
across the Mediterranean, but the effects of most exotics are unknown. This
CIESM Atlas of Exotic Species is the first attempt to inventory all these
interlopers. The International Commission for the Scientific Exploration of
the Mediterranean Sea, an 80-year-old consortium with members from 22
countries, has posted three volumes covering invasive mollusks, crustaceans,
and fishes. Three to five more volumes will go up in the next several years.
Written by experts on the groups, the more than 250 accounts detail each
species' appearance, ecology, behavior, distribution, entrance route,
economic importance, and region of origin.
http://www.ciesm.org/atlas

October 14, 2002 -- Life Cycle Sleuths
From the Journey North Project, students will study an animal’s habits as they form hypotheses as to why and when it migrates. Guidelines for both student research and class discussion on the project are included.
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/lifecycle.html

October 7, 2002 -- Cell Travel Brochure
What do cells do that is phenomenal enough to attract tourists at a roadside attraction? Blow up the processes of a plant or animal cell, create a cell amusement park, and have your students work in teams to device a cell travel brochure.
http://www.accessexcellence.org/AE/AEC/AEF/1995/porter_cell.html

September 30, 2002 -- Virtual Factory Project
Students make a creative analogy and explore cellular organelle processes -
e.g. factory, fast food restaurant - and then present a graphic illustration
of their project to the class. The links for Internet resources do need to
be updated.
http://www.life.uiuc.edu/plantbio/cell

September 23, 2002 -- Repeat Finder
This site consists of a set of tools for analyzing potential regulatory
sequences of genes. One tool scans chromosomes 3 and 10 of Caenorhabditis
elegans and pinpoints inverted repeats, short stretches of DNA that contain
a sequence and its complementary sequence and that may play a role in gene
regulation. Another tool finds repeats associated with the Krebs cycle. The
Motif Lexicon scans the C. elegans genome for sequences as short as four
bases long--snippets that big-name search tools like BLAST may have a hard
time finding.
http://genomics.wheatoncollege.edu/

September 16, 2002 -- Arctic Circle
To some, the Far North is a complex of minerals and fossil fuels ready to
be harvested. Others see their traditional home, or a priceless wilderness
deserving protection. At this site, you can immerse yourself in the
history and cultures of the area above the 66th parallel and explore current
debates on resource use, land rights, and cultural identity. The site combines
original content with links to exhibits, news articles, reports, and
essays.
http://arcticcircle.uconn.edu/

September 9, 2002 -- Viruses: From Structure to Biology
Learn how the field advanced so far, so fast at this web site that tracks
the evolution of structural virology from the first crystallization of
tobacco mosaic virus in 1935 to modern efforts to banish polio. It relates
key milestones and has 11 interviews, with hopes the history will help
future virologists appreciate the difficulties faced by lab researchers just
a few decades ago.
http://medicine.wustl.edu/~virology/index.htm

September 2, 2002 -- Cave Biology Compendium
To learn more about the life lurking in underwater caves, visit this site
from Texas A&M University, Galveston. From taxonomists to divers, the web
site focuses on inhabitants of anchialine caves, which contain salt water
but aren't directly connected to the ocean. According to site creator Thomas
Iliffe, a marine biologist, some lineages of organisms in these caves might
date back to more than 200 million years, when the continents were still
united. At the 3-year-old site, you'll find species lists for the caves of
the Bahamas, Bermuda, and the Yucatán. There's also a gallery and technical
descriptions of some of the pallid fishes, washed-out crustaceans, sponges,
and worms that have evolved in these isolated habitats. 
www.tamug.tamu.edu/cavebiology/Intro.html

August 23, 2002 -- The Parasitic Plant Connection
More than 3900 species of plants (about 1% of the world's total) obtain their nutrients from other organisms, according to Daniel Nickrent, a botanist at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. This 5-year-old site is a clearinghouse of information on these botanical species, including mistletoes, sandalwood, morning glories, and the world's largest flowers--the Rafflesiaceae of Indonesia, which grow up to a meter across and reek like rotting flesh. The site provides distribution maps and key characteristics for 18 families of parasitic plants. There's also a directory of researchers, an update on phylogeny, a glossary, and links to scores of images and to gene sequences.
http://www.science.siu.edu/parasitic-plants/

August 19, 2002 -- World Biodiversity Database
This site contains entries for some 200,000 species of plants, fungi, animals, bacteria, and protists. Look up sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus), for instance, and you get a page with drawings of the animal and details on its distribution, appearance, classification, and behavior. Entries also link to protein and DNA databases. You can browse the tree of life to track down interesting creatures, or search by scientific or common name. Marine organisms predominate, but keep checking back. According to its creators, the database will eventually include all 1.7 million known organisms on Earth.
http://www.eti.uva.nl/Database/WBD.html

August 12, 2002 -- Bioscience and Biotechnology History
This who's who by paleobiologist John Alroy of the University of
California (UC), Santa Barbara, profiles more than 50 thinkers who worked
between 1800 and 1950. Subjects of the brief biographies range from Erasmus
Darwin to the American fossil expert George Gaylord Simpson. 
You can also delve into more recent events--the early years of the AIDS
epidemic and the growth of the biotechnology industry. The interview texts
available at this site date from 1990 to 1997, and others are in the works.
The transcripts include the discussions of two San Francisco public health
experts on the emergence of AIDS and those of seven scientists on the birth,
safety, and commercialization of biotech--including Herbert Boyer, who with
colleague Stanley Cohen was the first to slip a gene from one organism into
another.
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/Biotech/index.html
 

August 5, 2002 -- Mosquito Genomics
We've battled mosquitoes with netting, repellent, massive drainage projects,
and clouds of DDT, but diseases such as malaria still kill millions. The
Mosquito Genomics World Wide Web Server serves up mosquito genome databases,
including those for Aedes aegypti, the yellow fever mosquito, and Anopheles
gambiae, the carrier of malaria. The databases are still growing, but for
catalogued genes you can obtain information such as a map of chromosomal
location, a listing of nearby genes, and relevant publications. Each
database also features a sizeable bibliography--more than 4500 entries for
A. aegypti alone. 
http://klab.agsci.colostate.edu

July 26, 2002 -- Wild Animal Photo Album
If you'd like to use a winning shot of a copperhead, an ocelot, or bald
eagle to use in a talk, paper, or a personal web side, try searching the
National Image Library, a nature gallery from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service. You can download many free medium- and high-resolution photos of
vertebrates, invertebrates, plants, and landscapes, mainly from North
America.
http://images.fws.gov/

July 22, 2002 -- Molecule of the Month
This URL was sent to us by Rosette Dawson after she read about it in the
Houston Chronicle.
http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Chemistry/MOTM/motm.htm

July 15, 2002 -- Early Classics in Biogeography
Biogeography, the study of what creatures live where and why, provides 
compelling evidence for evolution and natural selection. To find out about 
this field, just link to this bibliography of works dating from the 1700s to 
1950. Charles H. Smith, a science librarian at Western Kentucky University 
in Bowling Green, has compiled several hundred books, articles, and lectures 
that also include contributions on ecology and species diversity. About 
one-third of the entries link either to free online copies of the works or 
to the archive service, JSTOR, which many universities subscribe to. Users 
can also go to biographies of many of the authors. 
www.wku.edu/~smithch/biogeog 

July 8, 2002 -- Microbiology Direct
This website offers a source of oceanic plankton samples, a primer on the 
acid-fast smear technique for spotting tuberculosis infection, and hundreds 
of microbiology links in 11 categories including research and images. 
www.microbiology-direct.com 

July 1, 2002 -- Biomat.net
This useful community site for the burgeoning field of biomaterials will 
allow you to find links to biomaterials organizations, labs, companies, and 
more than 100 journals. Free registration is required to access some 
sections. Keep up on developments in the field of biomaterials with a news 
section featuring articles from journals and the popular media, or browse 
the monthly roundup of the top five biomaterials Web sites. 
www.biomat.net

June 24, 2002 -- Online Conversion Kit
This handy site performs conversions from parsecs to hogsheads. The 
calculator handles more than 5000 units of length, temperature, weight, 
speed, volume, time, power, and others. You can change metric to metric, 
English to metric, and for a retro thrill, metric to English. 
www.onlineconversion.com

June 15, 2002 -- Seaweed Site
Some seaweeds grow nearly as tall as redwoods. Others are used in products 
from ice cream to inks. More about the 10,000 species of seaweeds and other 
kinds of algae is found at this site. Created by Michael Guiry of the 
National University of Ireland in Galway, the heart of the site is 
AlgaeBase. This taxonomic database provides geographic distributions, type 
localities, synonyms, and illustrations for more than 18,000 kinds of
marine, freshwater, and terrestrial algae Sample additional information in 
the bibliography, primers on algal biology, and the uses of seaweed (which 
range from sushi wrappings to bone replacement therapy). 
http://seaweed.ucg.ie/ 
 

June 10, 2002 -- Botanical Research Institute of Texas
A privately funded organization in Fort Worth, BRIT has acquired the 
herbarium collections of SMU and Vanderbilt, sponsors ongoing research, and 
offers programs for students and teacher. A children's library as well as a 
fantastic collection of plant-related books and journals, including several 
rare editions rounds out this almost-hidden jewel in our own neighborhood. 
http://www.brit.org
 

June 7, 2002 -- Arkansas Rock Art
Lascaux and Altamira boast the best known rock artwork, but it seems that early Americans also got creative in caves, under overhangs, and on rock walls. Some of the best examples are in Arkansas. This new Web site explains the state's pre-Columbian artists and their work. General articles describe the cultures of those who made the art and what we can divine about their rituals and beliefs. Technical papers on excavations and efforts to protect the sites from natural and human damage are very good. The gallery has human figures, animals, abstractions and geometric symbols. It is an excellent site to visit before you make your vacation plans to Arkansas! 
http://rockart.uark.edu/

May 27, 2002 -- Alfred Russel Wallace
Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) conceived of natural selection with Charles Darwin. Wallace emerges from Darwin's shadow as a pioneer of the field of biogeography, an eloquent essayist, a plucky adventurer, and, one of Britain's foremost Victorian scientists. Curator Charles Smith, science librarian at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, presents the story of this complex scientist through a thoughtful bioography, contemporary interviews and obituaries, and Wallace's own words. Be sure to read Wallace’s 1858 essay on natural selection that spurred Darwin to finally publish his own work on the subject. 
http://www.wku.edu/~smithch/home.htm

May 20, 2002 -- Phylogeny of Turtles
Turtles have endured the demise of the dinosaurs, the ice ages, and disco. 
Their anatomy, fossil history, and evolution is found at this site created 
by paleontologist Eugene Gaffney of the American Museum of Natural History 
in New York City. The interactive cladogram shows defining characteristics 
for extinct and living groups. Other sections focus on the extinct horned 
turtles that were the reptilian answer to longhorn cattle. 
http://research.amnh.org/users/esg/

May 13, 2002 -- Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Find out everything you ever wanted to know about the genetic blueprints of STDs, but were afraid to ask. The complete genome sequences and maps for eight pathogens that cause sexually transmitted diseases (Chlamydia trachomatis, three kinds of herpesviruses, the human papillomavirus, and Treponema pallidum). For the bacterial nasties, you can find out where the gene falls in the bug's biochemical pathways. Pretty sophisticated, but interesting, nonetheless. 
http://www.stdgen.lanl.gov/

May 05, 2002 -- Embryo Images
Eight years in the making, this site put together by Kathy Sulik and Peter Bream of UNC, Chapel Hill is an illustrated 9-unit tutorial. You can watch a furrow on the embryo's back close to form the spinal cord, or follow limb formation from the first bulge of tissue along the embryo's flank. Or be amazed at the disappearance of the webbing between the fingers. It also includes illustrations from Langman's Medical Embryology. 
http://www.med.unc.edu/embryo_images

April 29, 20002 -- TreeBASE
TreeBASE provides a service for evolutionary biologists who want to know how organisms are related. Contributors have placed more than 1750 phylogenetic trees (for plants, vertebrates, and fungi) along with original data.  They range from "universal trees," that illustrate relationships among major lineages of organisms to intimate studies of individual groups, such as the Hawaiian fruit flies. With software available free from a linked site, you can download, prune, and label the diagrams. 
http://www.treebase.org/treebase/

April 22, 2002 -- Botanical Bounty of China
Southern China is one of the world's biodiversity hotspots. At this site 
sponsored by the Harvard University Herbaria, you can see the impressive 
specimens from one of the few botanic surveys of the region. Once you are 
oriented with maps of the area, search through collection records on more 
than 10,000 specimens gathered over 6 years. The star attraction is the 
image archive holding more than 600 shots of landscapes and exotic fungi and 
flora. 
http://maen.huh.harvard.edu:8080/china

April 15, 2002 -- Froguts
Froguts is a flashy web site where students can dissect a frog without catching a whiff of formaldehyde. Ten interactive movie explorations meld computer graphics and photos of real dissections to simulate the disassembly of an amphibian. The lessons explore external anatomy and major organ systems. Animations amplify content, demonstrating processes such as the frog's four-step breathing mechanism. Although geared for high school students, the material may be useful for introductory college courses. Richard Hill, a graduate student at the University of South Florida in Tampa, created the site. 
http://www.froguts.com

April 8, 2002 -- Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
The U.S. Geological Survey's Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, Maryland offers access and analysis of the findings of the June Breeding Bird Surveys conducted annually since 1966. Other site offerings include basic information on identification and natural history for a variety of wildlife. There is an illustrated guide to North American birds that also supplies video, audio of songs, and distribution maps. Frogs and toads get their due as well. For example, there's a new key to the hard-to- identify North American tadpoles, amphibian population surveys, and information on the problem of disappearing amphibians.  To find out how toxic chemicals harm wildlife, check out the site's Contaminant Exposure and Effects database, compiled from more than 6000 papers and reports. 
http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov <http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov

April 1, 2002 -- Fingerprints of Life 
Astrobiology, the search for life outside of Earth and for Earth analogs for 
the conditions that exist elsewhere in the solar system is the subject of 
Fingerprints of Life, referred to us by Cheryl Pittman of Pearland High 
School. Activities range from actual labs to research and use astrobiology 
as the "hook" for teaching skills such as observation, description, and 
classification. The activities and labs can be adapted to levels from upper 
elementary/middle school, through high school. 
http://ares.jsc.nasa.gov/Education/Websites/AstrobiologyEducation/index.html
 

March 25, 2002 -- The Wonderful World of Copepods
Copepods are crustaceans that may be found living in the Himalayas, or in a steaming thermal pool. Huge numbers swarm the ocean and fresh waters, and there may be more copepods than insects on Earth. If you’d like more information on these creatures, you should try this pair of Web sites. 

Smithsonian's World of Copepods (http://www.nmnh.si.edu/iz/copepod/) is a complete bibliography with some 39,000 references dating back to 1600. You can also search a list of all known copepod scientific names or scour the database of 5000 type specimens held by the museum. There's also a worldwide directory of copepod researchers. 

The Copepod Web Portal (http://copepods.interfree.it/index.html) is a site from Giuseppe Pesce, a zoologist at the University of L'Aquila, Italy. The site offers a checklist of Italian copepods as well as reviews of some of the groups of copepods that inhabit groundwater. 

March 18, 2002 -- Animal Information - Rare and Endangered Species 
This site, created by Paul Massicot, includes more than 100 familiar animals such as the giant panda and cheetah, as well as lesser known ones such as the Yangtze river dolphin, or baiji, and the hispid hare of India and Bangladesh. All referenced species accounts provide the habitat, appearance, ecology, behavior, reproduction, conservation status, and threats to survival. 
 http://www.animalinfo.org/

March 11, 2002 -- Science Songs
"Ballads for the Age of Science" is series of songs produced during the late 1950s and early 1960s. You can play more than 100 tracks from this earnest musical attempt to teach children about space, physics, weather, experiments, and nature. Jeff Poskanzer, webmaster, found six dusty albums in his parents' basement and put them on the Web. The songs may seem corny today, but they may be useful in some science classes, especially for elementary grades. 
http://www.acme.com/jef/science_songs

March 4, 2002 -- MSDS On the Internet
Michelle Barnet sends us this link to a free website that has an MSDS. If you, like Michelle, are in the process of trying to get copies of MSDS sheets for all of the chemicals in your lab, this site can be helpful. She tells us that the health department requires that you have these on hand for "kitchen chemicals", and there is even an MSDS for “WD-40”. 
http://hazard.com/msds/index.php

February 25, 2002 -- Web Elements
Thanks to Jackie Allen who alerted us to Mark Winter’s site at the University of Sheffield, England. The site provides a printable version of the periodic table, e-card capability, and even a “Palm Elements” for a Palm Pilot.  Clicking on an individual element will yield key data, history, uses, relation to biology and geology, compound index, a comic, and more. 
http://www.webelements.com

February 18, 2002  -- National Geographic Map Database 
Need a map of fossil-bearing Permian strata in west Texas or locations of titanium deposits in the United States? The National Geologic Map Database, a catalog from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) will teach you how to obtain almost every USGS map, along with hundreds of others published by state governments, universities, private companies, and organizations. Map types include topography, the ocean floor, magnetic or gravity measurements, fossil localities, earthquake faults, volcanoes, and soils. Raw data for some maps are available online, but for most the site supplies contact information for ordering paper copies. Also, GEOLEX, a database of 16,000 named geological formations includes geographical extent, age, publication history, and a brief bibliography. 
http://ngmdb.usgs.gov/

February 11, 2002 --  Dino Directory 
At Dino Directory, a quick-reference site from the Natural History Museum in London you may dig through more than 100 listings of dinosaurs arranged alphabetically or by geological period, body shape, or geographical distribution. The entry for each dinosaur genus presents vital facts such as size, diet, and range, along with pictures from the museum's gallery. Ninety additional accounts are in preparation. 
http://flood.nhm.ac.uk/cgi-bin/dino/

February 04, 2002 -- Berkeley Mortality Database
A Frenchman born at the turn of the last century could expect to live a paltry 43 years, and a black man born in the United States in 1968 will probably live only 16 years longer. Demographer John Wilmoth of the University of California, Berkeley has collected these and other numbers.  Data sets enumerate births and deaths, life expectancies, and population sizes for Sweden, the United States, France, and Japan. The data can be viewed in several ways, such as by 1-year or 10-year intervals, or in a life table showing death rate in each age group. 
http://www.demog.berkeley.edu/wilmoth/mortality/index.html

January 21,  2002  -- Chemistry Helper
The Organic Chemistry Help site is not for students cramming for final exams, although they would do well to make a visit. Written in straightforward style, this site can serve as a quick refresher of lots of chemistry concepts. Pages cover the structure, properties, and nomenclature of the major classes of organic molecules and explain common reaction mechanisms. A chemistry student at Frostburg State University in Maryland provides tips on synthesis techniques, practice tests, and rated links to other chemistry sites. 
http://www.chemhelper.com

January 14,  2002  -- All About Earth
Want to find out how global warming might affect the climate of Texas or how many earthquakes rattled Earth today? This roundup of earth science and physical geography links is compiled by Mark Francek of Central Michigan 
University. Among the scores of categories are climate and weather, 
glaciers, plate tectonics and earthquakes, oceanography, water pollution, 
mapping, vegetation distribution, and energy. The site may be especially 
made for earth science students, but there is a great deal of information 
for biology teachers and students as well. 
http://personal.cmich.edu/~franc1m/homepage.htm

January 14,  2002 -- Xiphophorus, The Swordtail
RESOURCES: The Scoop on Swordtails The study of swordtails (genus Xiphophorus), an aquarium fish is also an important lab organism used in the study of the origin and spread of cancer.  Crosses between different species produce fish prone to melanoma and other tumors. Learn more about research on swordtails at this site aimed at cancer biologists, behaviorists, and others interested in these colorful natives of Mexico and Central America. Included on the site is a genetic map, a gallery with portraits of the showy fish, a jobs board, and a directory of researchers. Founder Steven Kazianis, a cancer biologist at Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, and colleagues have written a primer on techniques for studying Xiphophorus, from photography to artificial insemination. The bibliography has more than 1700 citations dating back to the early 1900s. 
www.xiphophorus.org

Texas Department of Health
From tracking birth defects to helping elementary teachers with health lessons, this site is packed with interesting information. The Compliance & Enforcement page  (www.tdh.state.tx.us/beh/hazcom/Enforcement.htm) also has many useful links, including fact sheets on Workplace Chemical List (HCB 005), Standards for Chemical Container Labels (HCB 007) and Rules of the Texas Hazard Communication Act (HCB 003). 
http://www.tdh.state.tx.us/default.htm

January 7, 2002 -- Microarrays
If you want the latest information on one of the most important developments in biology and medicine since the polymerase chain reaction, check out this week's site: Microarrays. Microarrays is a diverse collection of links compiled by Y. F. Leung of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Novices keen to learn the basics of gene chips might want to start with the background section, since it offers several lucid, illustrated primers. If you're really up-to-date, you can find links to a range of products for making and scanning microarrays, plenty of lab protocols, and rosters of labs and people using microarray technology. This site appears to have something for everyone. 
http://ihome.cuhk.edu.hk/~b400559/array.html