The Virtual Museum of Minerals and Molecules

The Virtual Museum of Minerals and Molecule is a web-based focal point and resource for 3-D visualizations of molecules and minerals. The visualizations utilize the Jmol applet in a web browser, which allows them to be interactively zoomed and rotated so they can be viewed from all angles, much as with a real molecule. They can also be programmed with highlighting features that allow identification of specific atoms, structural sub-components, and mineralogical planes.
The 3-D visualizations are incorporated into stand-alone HTML (WWW) instructional modules that combine text, graphics, molecular formulae, highlighting features, electron micrographs, and other appropriate instructional aids and materials.

http://virtual-museum.soils.wisc.edu/_museum.html

USDA Animal Welfare Information Center

Provides information for improved animal care and use in research, testing, teaching, and exhibition

http://awic.nal.usda.gov/

Macaulay Library: Online archive of animal sounds & video

The "world's largest archive of animal sounds and video"

http://macaulaylibrary.org/index.do

Seashells: the Plainness and Beauty of Their Mathematical Descriptions

How do plants and animals grow, one might ask? Jorge Picado of the Universidade de Coimbra recently looked into the question of how seashells grow, and has produced this lovely article which is offered as part of the Mathematical Association of America's (MAA) Digital Library collection. As Picado suggests in the abstract for this paper, "Many aspects of the growth of plants and animals may be described by remarkably simple mathematical laws." Utilizing the LiveGraphics3D Java applet, Picado elaborates on how seashells grow, along with offering some commentary on additional examples and a bibliography.

http://mathdl.maa.org/mathDL/23/?pa=content&sa=viewDocument&nodeId=3294

From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2009.
http://scout.wisc.edu/

International Year of Astronomy 2009

The International Year of Astronomy, 2009, will be a year-long, worldwide, public celebration of astronomy, held to mark the 400th anniversary of Galileo turning a telescope to the sky. The Year has been endorsed by UNESCO.

IYA2009 is being coordinated by the International Astronomical Union, the international body that represesents the world’s professional astronomers. However, almost all activities will be organised at the level of a country or region. Australia is one of the 63 countries signed up to participate.

http://www.astronomy2009.org.au/

Special issue : harnessing plant biomass for biofuels and biomaterials

This Special Issue of the Plant Journal (Volume 54 (4) May 2008) is devoted to the biochemical processes that plants can or could use to produce biofuels and other useful biomaterials, and is available in full-text free of charge. Useful for researchers, students, teachers and other interested individuals, it comprises 17 peer reviewed articles written by invited experts, along with an editorial introducing the topic and discussing some of the papers. The reviews aim to be accessible to the general public and to provide a scientific backdrop to discussions on alternative sources of carbon, such as ethanol and biodiesel, and on other important chemicals derived from plants. Also available from the site is an accompanying podcast (17 minutes 14 seconds) featuring an interview with Professor Christoph Benning, a Co-Editor of the special issue. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd in association with the Society for Experimental Biology, and made available on Web by Wiley InterScience.

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/120090038/issue
Copyright © 2006-2009

The American Journal of Science

Started in 1818, the American Journal of Science (originally called The American Journal of Science and Arts) is the oldest scientific journal published without interruption in the United States. Today the Journal deals only with geology and related earth science, but for many years it covered a wider range of scientific and artistic endeavors. Recently, staff members at Carnegie Mellon University's library decided to create an online collection, which contains over 140 volumes of the Journal. Visitors can search the entire contents of the collection at their leisure, or they can just browse around for a bit. For historians of science and those with a curiosity about what scientists and others found of importance in the 19th century, this collection will be invaluable.  The site is rounded out by a FAQ area and a
link to other digital collections created by Carnegie Mellon University.

http://ajs.library.cmu.edu/

From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2009.
http://scout.wisc.edu/