Center for Ocean Solutions

The Center for Ocean Solutions (COS) "works to solve the major problems facing the ocean." COS was founded by three partners with similar commitments: the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, and the Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University. On the homepage, visitors can browse through a Featured News area and also look over video clips which explore topics like "Can Coral Reefs Survive the 21st Century?" Moving on, the materials on the site are divided into six sections, including Research Libraries, Publications, and Videos & Podcasts. Scholars and marine scientists should look over the Publications area to see a list of recent publications by COS researchers and affiliates arranged by topic. Finally, the podcasts are quite good, and they include discussions of dropping ocean oxygen levels and climate change adaptation.
http://centerforoceansolutions.org/
From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2012. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Edgar: Climate Change Impact on the Distribution of Australian Bird Species

Developed by a team at JCU's eResearch Centre, Edgar is a website where visitors can explore the future impact of climate change on Australian birds. Edgar shows locations where a bird species has been observed and uses this information to calculate and display how well the climate across Australia suits that species. Edgar can also show an animation of how the suitable climate for a species may change into the future. 
Birdwatchers and other experts can improve the accuracy of Edgar's projections by classifying observations. 
http://spatialecology.jcu.edu.au/Edgar/

Earth Science World Image Bank

Provided by the American Geological Institute (AGI), the Earth Science World Image bank website contains over 6,000 images related to the geophysical sciences for use by educators, the public, and the geoscience community. The photos are contained within a few dozen categories, which include coal, weather, volcanoes and paleontology. Visitors can also use the Browse Images link to move around the collection. Each image includes a brief description, along with related information, such as the photographer. Users will find that the archive is updated frequently and return visits will be obligatory.

http://www.earthscienceworld.org/imagebank/index.html

From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2012. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Google Sky

Google  has teamed up with astronomers at some of the largest observatories in the world to bring you a new view of the sky. Using Google Maps this tool provides an exciting way to browse and explore the universe. You can find the positions of the planets and constellations on the sky and even watch the birth of distant galaxies as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope. The imagery for Google Sky comes from some of the largest ground and space-based astronomical surveys.

The visible data comes from a combination of surveys: the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the Digital Sky Survey Consortium,  NASA and ESA's Hubble Space Telescope. Details about these observatories can be found on the Partners page. 

If you are interested in what's happening on the sky tonight or over the next few months then check out the podcasts from Earth and Sky or search for the position of your favorite planet. 

http://www.google.com/sky/

MIT Center for Materials Science and Engineering

The MIT Center for Materials Science and Engineering "is devoted to the design, creation, and fundamental understanding of materials that are capable of enhancing the human experience." Visitors to this site can peruse the eight primary sections here, which include Facilities, Research, Highlights, and Connecting to Industry. In the Research area, visitors can learn about the Center's ongoing research projects, including work on the design of nanomaterials for electrochemical energy storage and conversion. Journalists and others may find the Highlights area quite useful, as it contains updates on the Center's research accomplishments, such as the development of fibers that can detect and produce sound. The site is rounded out by a collection of related links which lead to other relevant research centers at MIT and the Lincoln Laboratory.

http://mit.edu/cmse/

From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2012. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Practical Physics

This website, created by the Nuffield Foundation, contains practical activities designed for use in the classroom with students in high school and college. The activities here are arranged into a dozen topics, including Astronomy, Atoms and nuclei, and Physics applications. The activities here include "Hearing a laser beam," "What's the frequency?," and 75 others that use video clips, interactive graphics, and other visual materials to make these concepts and principles come alive. The Forces and Motion area is one of the best, as it is host to activities that really delve into the concepts of speed, velocity, and acceleration. Visitors can also use the search engine to look for specific items of interest.

http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/practical-physics

From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2012.http://scout.wisc.edu/

Teaching Issues and Experiments in Ecology

Teaching Issues and Experiments in Ecology (TIEE) is a peer-reviewed web-based collection of ecological educational materials. It is "a resource for busy ecology faculty who are looking for new ways to reach their students, or who perhaps want to learn more about teaching and learning." Each of the volumes here contains Experiments, Issues, and Teaching. In the Experiments area, visitors can find resources for laboratory settings, while the Issues section features classroom exercises and web-based materials. On the site's homepage, visitors will find the All Volumes link, which will allow them to look over all the resources dating back to 2004. The field experiments area includes resources such as "Using Steam Leaf Packs to Explore Community Assembly" and "Biodiversity Responses Across a Gradient of Human Influence."

http://tiee.esa.org/index.html

From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2012. http://scout.wisc.edu/