Science Surfing
- Earth
Sky Cycles
Created at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, this Web site features middle-school classroom activities with an atmospheric cycles theme. Topics include climate, greenhouse effect, global climate change, and ozone. Go to: http://www.ucar.edu/learn/
- Astronomy
Eye on the Universe
For more than a decade, the Hubble Space Telescope has provided astronomers with astonishing views of the universe. This week, the Exploratorium in San Francisco hosts a series of Webcasts from the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore to present a behind-the-scenes peek at how the space telescope is managed. Also check out several collections […]
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Caving in Comfort
Explore the wonders of solution caves, lava tubes, sea caves, and other underground realms at this beautifully illustrated Web site, developed by caver and photographer Dave Bunnell. The site features photographs of caves throughout the world and maps of idealized “virtual” caves, which explain and illustrate examples of nature’s handiwork. Go to: http://www.goodearthgraphics.com/virtcave.html
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Quantum Art
Quantum physicist Eric J. Heller of Harvard University writes computer algorithms to convert scientific data into brilliantly colorful images. A selection of the resulting graphic images is now featured in an art exhibition titled Approaching Chaos. These Web links to Harvard Magazine and to Heller’s own Web page highlight several of these intriguing artworks. Go […]
- Computing
Automatic Professor Machine
Check out an amazing, new information-dispensing device at the Web site of technology critic Langdon Winner of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Winner’s Automatic Professor Machine delivers online doctoral degrees without the student ever having to set foot on a college campus. A spoof of the distance-learning craze, the site features a news report, radio interview […]
- Computing
Making the Macintosh
Interested in computer history? Alex S. Pang of the Stanford University Library has assembled fascinating material from a variety of sources, including papers donated to the university from Apple’s corporate library, to portray the invention and emergence of the Macintosh personal computer. The evolving Web site includes sections on counterculture and computing, the early Macintosh, […]
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Urchins of the Seas
If you haven’t really been paying attention for the last 450 million years or so of Earth’s history, London’s Natural History Museum offers a tidy way to catch up with a diverse, venerable group of marine invertebrates known as echinoids. Spectacular color images highlight important distinguishing characteristics of each type of sea urchin. Find out […]
- Tech
Flying Leap
In the history of human flight, first came the daring tinkerers who gave wings to the pent-up human desire to soar. In the wake of their successes came a remarkable proliferation of flying machines, spacecraft, and colorful characters. At this Web site, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics celebrates these achievements with an annotated […]
- Plants
Lichen Lovelies
Should anyone dismiss lichens as so much gray-green crust, send the detractor to the lichen glamour shots in this Web site’s portrait gallery. The lush photography details shapes from goblets to anchors and colors from blue to neon Lycra-pants lemon. Other images illustrate the importance of lichens for other creatures (see the flying squirrel nest) […]
- Physics
The Atoms Family
Dracula doesn’t want to suck your blood. He wants you to enter his online library and learn about the properties of light, waves, and particles. Here at “The Atoms Family” Web pages, created by the Miami Museum of Science, Dracula and four other silver-screen ghouls invite Web surfers into their laboratories to try out physics […]
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Skeleton Search
Visit the e-Skeletons Project to take a close-up tour of the bones of a human, gorilla, and baboon. Visitors can compare selected bones of one species to those of another and can download plug-ins to view skeletons in 3D movies and images. Go to: http://www.eSkeletons.org/
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Liquid Crystal
Brilliantly colored images of liquid crystals highlight the Web site of Kent State University’s Liquid Crystal Institute. The site also features research overviews, news and conference links, and other resources devoted to the study and application of liquid crystals. Go to: http://www.lci.kent.edu/
