NOVA's Physics Blog

NOVA's Physics Blog is billed as "the physics of nothing, everything, and all the things in between." This "Nature of Reality" blog promises "a space that welcomes big ideas about space, time, and the universe." The posts here include graphics, animations, and other visually compelling materials. Visitors can scroll down on the right side of the page to look over Recent Posts, Recent Comments, and the contributors to the blog. It's a diverse group, including mathematician James Stein and physicist Frank Wilczek. Recent posts include "Why is the Higgs So Light?" and "Scientific Approaches to the Fine-Tuning Problem." Each entry concludes with the Go Deeper area, which features the editor's picks for further reading.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/physics/blog/

From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2013.  https://www.scout.wisc.edu/

Science: Video Portal

Alya Red: A Computational Heart

The folks at Science magazine craft a wide palette of audio visual materials, many of which can be accessed through their video portal. In the Featured Videos, visitors can learn about some recent explorations into education reform, deep sea explorations, and the Higgs boson. Scrolling down the site, visitors will notice that the videos are divided into seven sections, including Engineering, Environment, and Medicine. It's easy to see how these videos could be effectively used in a number of classroom situations to complement existing lectures and presentations. New users might do well to start with the "Alya Red: A Computational Heart" video and the rather thoughtful "California Meteorite Rush." 

http://video.sciencemag.org/

From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2013. https://www.scout.wisc.edu/ 

http://video.sciencemag.org/Featured/2127025911001/1 

Engineers Against Poverty

Engineers Against Poverty (EAP) is a non-governmental organization that works in the field of engineering and international development. EAP works to harness members' combined skills to alleviate poverty throughout the world and work on the challenges involved with sustainable development along the way. The materials on the site are divided into five sections, including Major Initiatives, Key Issues, Publications, and EAP's Programme. A good place to start is the Major Initiatives area. Here users can learn about some of the key issues and challenges in the domain of engineering, poverty reduction, and more. The EAP's Programme area has information and working papers on the organization's work in transforming extractive industries and infrastructure projects. Finally, the Publications area contains works like "Employment Intensive Road Construction" and "Climate Compatible Development in the Infrastructure Sector Overview.

http://www.engineersagainstpoverty.org/about_eap.cfm

From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2013. https://www.scout.wisc.edu/

Scientific American: 60-Second Science

Science in a minute? Sure, why not! Scientific American is offering up these bite-sized offerings that give a brief intro to a range of science-related topics and investigations. New, minute-long offerings are added every weekday, and recent additions have included "Fly Cells Divide by the Clock," "Twitter Reveals Language Geographic Distribution," and "Bed Bugs Bollixed by Bean." Visitors can sign up to learn about new additions via their RSS feed or iTunes. These short audio blurbs could easily be used in any number of classrooms to keep students engaged. It's a great resource and one that can be used with a range of learners. 

http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/podcasts.cfm?id=60-second-science
 
From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2013. https://www.scout.wisc.edu/

Mapping for Results: The World Bank

The effective visual representation of key demographic data through the usof dynamic maps is a powerful tool for policymakers, journalists, and others. The World Bank developed such a program in 2010 as part of the Mapping for Results website. So far, their team has analyzed over 2,500 World Bank-financed projects and geo-coded more than 30,000 locations spanning 144 countries. Visitors can look over the featured articles on the homepage to get a flavor of the projects here, which include stories like "Mapping for Results Goes Local" and "Mapping the Financial Sector in Africa." Visitors can use the interactive map to view projects by country or indicator, which include population density, malnutrition, and infant mortality. Visitors can also learn about the Methodology deployed throughout the maps, which will be useful to those persons looking to understand the inner workings of this complex undertaking. Visitors can sign up to receive updates about the site via Twitter or RSS feed.

http://maps.worldbank.org/

From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2013. https://www.scout.wisc.edu/

Insects

Arctiid Moth

Anyone interested in entomology will find the images, descriptions, and activities here to be most edifying. Visitors can click on Class: Insecta for classroom activities that profile butterfly and moth wing patterns, and a delightful collection of insects as they appear on stamps from countries all over the world. The Entophiles area features over 150 images of insect macrophotography combined with detailed descriptions. The Ants, Bees & Wasps area is remarkable; visitors shouldn't miss the thread-waisted wasp or the formicid ants. The site also contains select issues of the Cultural Entomology digest, which includes articles like "The Insects of M.C. Escher" and "Butterflies of Ancient Mexico."

http://www.insects.org/

From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2013. https://www.scout.wisc.edu/

15 Evolutionary Gems

Teachers and members of the general public will find this resource from Nature magazine quite wonderful. Crafted by Henry Gee, Rory Howlett, and Philip Campbell, this collection of 15 evolutionary gems brings together items "for those wishing to spread awareness of evidence for evolution by natural selection." The 16-page document explains key scientific discoveries under headings like "A case of co-evolution," "The origin of feathers," and "Darwin's Galapagos finches." Each of these sections features a narrative essay, along with references and links to additional resources for further exploration.

http://www.nature.com/nature/newspdf/evolutiongems.pdf

From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2013. https://www.scout.wisc.edu/