02/24/03
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This newsletter is available to the public at the following locations:
http://library.stanford.edu/depts/swain/nsflibnews/
http://www.eevl.ac.uk/scitechnews/
http://avel.edu.au/scitech.html
News Release from AAAS
http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2003/0216bio.shtml
Dr. Marburger's Remarks at the NAS/CSIS Workshop on Publishing in the Life Sciences
http://www.ostp.gov/html/NASLifeSciencesWorkshop.pdf
Bioterror Fears Muzzle Open Science - BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/sci_tech/2003/denver_2003/2767453.stm
Science Journals to Join Fight Against Terrorists - Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14222-2003Feb15.html
“Thirty-two of the world's leading journal editors and
scientist-authors yesterday called for renewed vigilance and
personal responsibility among their ranks whenever potentially
‘dangerous’ research is presented for publication.
But, the editors and authors emphasized that the scholarly publishing community ‘must protect the integrity of the scientific process by publishing manuscripts of high quality, in sufficient detail to permit reproducibility.’ Without independent verification of research results, they emphasized, ‘We can neither advance biomedical research nor provide the knowledge base for building strong biodefense systems.’ ”
The text of the statement is due to be published in several major journals - Science, PNAS, Nature.
This is bound to become one of the most important science policy discussions of our day.
Dinosaurs on Ice
http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/events/shackleton/dino.htm
A Webcast for Science Teachers and Middle School Students!
The National Science Foundation's Office of Legislative and Public
Affairs presents: “Dinosaurs on Ice”: Jurassic Dinosaurs
from Antarctica. A webcast by Dr. William R. Hammer, Wednesday,
February 26, 2003, 10:30 - 11:30 a.m., EST.
During the 1990-91 Antarctic field season, an NSF-funded researcher, William R. Hammer, discovered the remains of Cryolophosaurus ellioti, or “frozen crested reptile.” Among the Antarctic dinosaur's telltale features were its large skull crest. Don't miss this exciting webcast!
Exploratorium Webcasts
http://www.exploratorium.edu/webcasts/index.html
The Biology of DNA from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Feb. 26
- Mar. 2, 2003 (Times to be Announced) Fifty years ago, Watson and
Crick presented their discovery of DNA's double helix structure at
a conference at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories. To commemorate
this event, the Exploratorium is taking you to this year's
gathering at Cold Spring Harbor. We'll get an insider's view of
the informal side of science, a perspective seldom seen. Come with
us and watch science in action.
Moldy Science: Cheese, Saturday, March 15, 2003, at 11 a.m.(PST). What is that hairy stuff on my cheese? Is it supposed to be runny? Creamy? Crumbly? How can anything that smells that bad taste that good? Come along as we explore the cool, dark world of cheese.
Sweet Science: Candy! Saturday, April 19, 2003, at 11 a.m. (PST). How do they make jellybeans shiny? Can the color of a candy affect the way it tastes? Do candy factories really look like Willy Wonka's? Join us as we investigate the sweet world of sugar.
Immunization Safety Review
http://www.iom.edu/imsafety
The Institute of Medicine's Immunization Safety Review Committee
holds a daylong meeting to discuss the influenza vaccine and
possible neurological complications beginning at 8:30 a.m. EST
Thursday, March 13. The event takes place at the Hotel Monaco, 700
F St. N.W., Washington, D.C. Participate by listening to a live
audio webcast and submitting questions using an e-mail form,
accessible on the
National Academies home page
(requires free RealPlayer).
Planning Climate Change Science
http://www.national-academies.org/
The National Academies release “Planning Climate Change
Science: A Review of the Draft U.S. Climate Change Science Program
Strategic Plan” at a one-hour public briefing at 10 a.m. EST
Wednesday, Feb. 26. Participate by listening to a live audio
webcast (requires free RealPlayer) and submitting questions using
an e-mail form, both accessible on the
National Academies home page
during the event.
Flight in America: A Centennial Retrospective
Dr. Richard P. Hallion, an Air Force Historian and noted writer
on Aviation History will present “Flight in America: A
Centennial Retrospective” at the Naval Heritage Center, 701
Pennsylvania Ave, Suite 123 in Washington, DC on Thursday,
February 27, 2003 from 6-8:30 p.m. The Naval Heritage Center is
conveniently located at the Archives/Navy Memorial Metro Stop on
the Yellow and Green lines. This event is sponsored by the
Military Librarians Group of the DC Chapter of the Special
Libraries Association. All are VERY welcome.
A Shared Destiny: Community Effects of Uninsurance
http://www.national-academies.org/
The Institute of Medicine releases “A Shared Destiny:
Community Effects of Uninsurance” at a one-hour public
briefing at 11 a.m. EST Thursday, March 6. Participate by
listening to a live audio webcast (requires free RealPlayer) and
submitting questions using an e-mail form, both accessible on the
National Academies home page
during the event.
Information Technology and Counterterrorism
http://www7.national-academies.org/cstb/news_20030311.html
The National Academies' Computer Science and Telecommunications
Board holds a meeting to present its newest reports. During the
two-hour event, committee members will discuss “Information
Technology for Counterterrorism: Immediate Actions and Future
Possibilities” and “Critical Information Infrastructure
Protection and the Law: Report of a Symposium.” The meeting
begins at 1 p.m. EST Tuesday, March 11 in Room 100 of the National
Academies building, 500 Fifth St. N.W., Washington, D.C.
Balancing scientific publication and national security concerns: issues for Congress.
CRS, 2003.
http://www.fas.org/irp/crs/RL31695.pdf
Economic report of the President, 2003.
EOP, 2003.
http://w3.access.gpo.gov/eop/
Fiscal Year 2004 Budget.
OMB, 2003.
http://w3.access.gpo.gov/usbudget/index.html
The Rise of Netpolitik: How the Internet Is Changing International Politics and Diplomacy.
Aspen Institute, 2003.
http://www.aspeninstitute.org/c&s/pdfs/netpolitik.pdf
Fostering Community-Driven Development: What Role for the State?.
World Bank, 2003.
http://econ.worldbank.org/files/24036_wps2969.pdf
UCLA Internet report, year three: surveying the digital future.
UCLA Center for Communication Policy, 2003.
http://ccp.ucla.edu/pdf/UCLA-Internet-Report-Year-Three.pdf
Gardiner-Garden, John. Defining aboriginality in Australia.
Department of the Parliamentary Library, 2003.
http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/CIB/2002-03/03cib10.pdf
Ocean Noise and Marine Mammals.
NAP, 2003.
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10564.html?onpi_listserv021403
Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2002 NAE Symposium on Frontiers of Engineering.
NAP, 2003.
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10617.html?onpi_listserv021403
Improving the Design of the Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data System (SESTAT).
NAP, 2003.
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10571.html?onpi_listserv021403
Exposure of the American Population to Radioactive Fallout from Nuclear Weapons Tests: A Review of the CDC-NCI Draft Report on a Feasibility Study of the Health Consequences to the American Population from Nuclear Weapons Tests Conducted by the United States and Other Nations.
NAP, 2003.
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10621.html?onpi_listserv021403
Understanding Others, Educating Ourselves: Getting More from International Comparative Studies in Education.
NAP, 2003.
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10622.html?onpi_listserv021403
Integrating Research and Education: Biocomplexity Investigators Explore the Possibilities: Summary of a Workshop.
NAP, 2003.
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10627.html?onpi_listserv021403
Graduate Student Report: First-Year Students in 1999 and 2000.
(First-year graduate physics and astronomy population at US institutions.)
AIP, 2003.
http://www.aip.org/statistics/trends/undtrends.htm
Earth & Space Science PhDs, Class of 2001.
Sponsored by the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and American Geological Institute (AGI), 2003.
http://www.aip.org/statistics/trends/emptrends.htm
How Space Shuttles Work
http://science.howstuffworks.com/space-shuttle.htm
This site examines the complexity of space shuttles,
including their parts, design, and various systems. It
covers information on shuttle history and future, space
environment and life support, getting into orbit, re-entry
and landing, and many related resources such as the
International Space Station, educational activities, NASA,
and more. (From Librarian's Index to the Internet)
Lost: Space Shuttle Columbia
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/shuttle/
CNN presents a special report on the loss of the
space shuttle Columbia's flight STS-107 and its seven crew
members on February 1, 2003. The coverage includes
information on the shuttle's past launches and milestones,
the final contact and communication moments with mission
control, and the resulting investigation that followed.
Related crew information, photo galleries, and audio and
video clips augment the news coverage. (From Librarian's Index to the Internet)
Shuttles Are the Work Horses from Outer Space
http://www.spacetoday.org/SpaceShuttles.html
This collection of information and links captures the
essence of a space shuttle's work responsibilities, stories
and histories, and past, current, and future ventures, plus
the background and components of the U.S. shuttles
Atlantis, Columbia, Discovery, Endeavour, and Challenger.
Additionally, it includes a video of the space shuttle
Challenger explosion in 1986 and more. From Space Today
Online. (From Librarian's Index to the Internet)
Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster Coverage: Resources, Story Ideas and More
http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=19160
The site is designed for news reporters and editors, and
contains up-to-the-minute coverage of the space shuttle
Columbia disaster on February 1, 2003. Includes links to
various news agencies' coverage, local authorities,
information on the crew members, graphics, radar images,
historical information, and a list of science experiments
conducted during the flight, as well as the Rogers
Commission report on the Challenger explosion in 1986.
This site is an invaluable resource for journalists and
laypeople alike. (From Librarian's Index to the Internet)
Spaceflight Now
http://spaceflightnow.com/
This space news site reports on breaking news (e.g. the
Columbia flight STS-107 tragedy), current and future shuttle
missions, and launch schedules, plus related space
activities, archived news, and current video clips. Don't
miss the spectacular photo gallery at Features which looks
back on 100 dramatic shuttle launches.
(From Librarian's Index to the Internet)
NASA Human Spaceflight
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/
The NASA site with information on the human spaceflight program
including news reports on the Columbia disaster. Also links to send
condolences to the NASA family, and letters received. The site also
covers news of other aspects of human spaceflight such as the space
station and the people behind the scenes on the ground.
The Space Shuttle Clickable Map
http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/ssa/docs/Space.Shuttle/index.shtml
This site presents technical information on the different
components that make up the space shuttle in a reader-friendly
format.
History of the Space Shuttle
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/shuttlehistory.html
History of the space shuttle program, missions, and of the
individual shuttles.
Space Shuttle Columbia and Her Crew
http://www.nasa.gov/columbia/
A NASA site on the Columbia, with biographies of the crew,
transcripts, memorials, video clips, and ongoing news stories.
Invention at Play
http://www.si.edu/lemelson/centerpieces/iap/index.html
“Invention at Play examines how play-the ordinary work of
childhood-connects with the creative impulse. Read about inventors
of the ski, sailboard, surgical robot, unfolding structures, water
purifier, barbed wire, Velcro, Kevlar, post-it note, microwave,
high-efficiency wind turbine, and telephone. Learn about Edison's
Invention Factory or the Linux computer operating system. See
sketches of the first telephone. Try your hand at a puzzle or word
game, or draw your own sketch online. (Smithsonian Institute)”
(From FREE)
Interviews with Scientists
http://www7.national-academies.org/interviews
The NAS Office on Public Understanding of Science announces two
new interviews on National Academy of Sciences' InterViews Web
site, which features first-person accounts of the lives and work
of members. In the hour-long interviews, distinguished scientists
talk about their research, why they became scientists and other
aspects of their careers. Entomologist May Berenbaum and
neurobiologist Carla Shatz are featured this month. The audio
files for these interviews are now available (requires free
RealPlayer).
Visas and Science
http://www.national-academies.org/visas
The National Academies' Board on International Scientific
Organizations has launched a new Web site to provide information
to the scientific community about the visa process. This
information is meant to help both our international colleagues who
plan to come to the United States as well as the U.S. scientists
who may be inviting them or planning a scientific conference.
Bug Bytes
http://cmave.usda.ufl.edu/~rmankin/soundlibrary.html
A collection of more than forty insect sound files. Browse by
species name or subject. Included are various larvae and
adult insect feedings; movements of soil invertebrates;
insects in plants; wing vibrations, and more. Additionally,
there is a sample file to learn how to distinguish insects
sounds from background noise. Length of each file is
provided. From the Center for Medical, Agricultural and
Veterinary Entomology, U.S. Department of Agriculture.
(From Librarian's Index to the Internet)
The Barbara McClintock Papers
http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/LL/
Hosted by the National Library of Medicine as part of its
Profiles in Science(r) project, the Barbara McClintock Papers site
provides public access to a selection of remarkable documents from
the noted American geneticist Barbara McClintock. Consisting of
everything from laboratory notes and private correspondence to
unpublished manuscripts, lecture notes and photos - even down to
copies of her CV - the site also provides a detailed biography of
this pioneering lady. Recognised as one of the most distinguished
scientists of the twentieth century, Barbara McClintock (1902-1992)
received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1983 for her
discoveries in genetics, namely the discovery of the phenomenon of
'jumping genes' or transposition - the ability of genes to change
position on a chromosome. Aged 81, she was the first women to
receive an unshared Nobel Prize in this category. However,
scientific recognition as to the importance of her work came
relatively late in her career, and during the early years of her
research she had to struggle to overcome many obstacles that would
have discouraged a less persevering individual. The Barbara
McClintock Papers themselves are held by the American
Philosophical Society and have been made available online through
collaboration with the National Library of Medicine. The site
directs new visitors to start with the online Exhibit section,
which includes a selection of documents and images organised by
subject, in addition to various biographical information.
Additional information can be accessed either alphabetically or
chronologically, or via the site's search facility. An interesting
resource, The Barbara McClintock Papers site provides a
fascinating insight into the life and mind of this remarkable
woman. Rating: 7 out of 10 LH (From New Scientist Current Picks)
Speaking of DNA: Insights Into the Process of Scientific Discovery
http://www.exploratorium.edu/origins/coldspring/index.html
“This year marks the 50th anniversary of Watson and
Crick's discovery of the double helix. To honor this event, we've
got an ongoing Web project that will take you into the history,
the labs, and the personalities behind a half-century of DNA
research.
To begin, we'll go behind the scenes at the 'Biology of DNA' conference at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. There, we'll rub elbows with Nobel laureates and other talented scientists, watch life in the lab at a world-class genetics research center, and give you an insider's view of science in action. In addition, we've taken Watson and Crick's original paper and added our own annotations, letting you read between the lines of this historical document. In the spring, we'll be expanding our annotations to a full Web site, and producing a second set of Webcasts. Live Webcasts from the 'Biology of DNA' conference begin Feb. 26, 2003.” Brought to you by the Exploratorium.
How Chess Computers Work
http://www.howstuffworks.com/chess.htm
This site illustrates how a computer program plays chess
and diagrams how it calculates all possible moves using a
formula called the minimax algorithm and a technique
called alpha beta pruning. Information is also available on
“Man vs. Machine” contests, IBM's Deep Blue, Deep Junior,
international chess champion Garry Kasparov, and more.
(From Librarian's Index to the Internet)
Berners-Lee at NSF
http://chronicle.com/free/v49/i22/22a02502.htm
From the article, “Current Web technology is uniquely
suited for displaying documents, whether scientific papers or
online catalog pages, according to Mr. Berners-Lee. But for all of
its versatility, the Web has limited utility for researchers who
want to share science and engineering data stored in databases, he
said. Identifying and using data hidden inside complex databases
is a tricky problem. But Mr. Berners-Lee believes that solving it
could accelerate the pace of discovery in science and engineering,
especially in areas of interdisciplinary research that draw data
from disciplines other than the researcher's primary areas of
expertise.” This quote comes from a presentation at the
National Science Foundation. (From the ResourceShelf)
The Journey Inside [Flash, RealPlayer, .pdf]
http://www97.intel.com/scripts-tji/index.asp
The Web designers at Intel did a tremendous job when designing
The Journey Inside, a Web site on computer and Internet-related
technologies. Six sections offer interactive lessons, video
demonstrations, and interesting stories about fundamental concepts.
The first section provides a general introduction to computers.
Next is an informative overview of Circuits and Switches, followed
by a discussion of Digital Information storage and analysis.
Microprocessor basics, the Internet, and Technology and Society
round out the last three sections. Teachers can also find useful
resources on this site, but they first need to complete a free
registration. [CL] (From the Scout Report)
A Lexicon of Learning: What Educators Mean When They Say ...
http://www.ascd.org/educationnews/lexicon/lexiconoflearning.html
“Ever wondered what educators mean when they refer to
'authentic assessment' or 'Bloom's Taxonomy'? Education, like all
professions, has a specialized vocabulary that parents and others
may have a difficult time understanding. ASCD's online resource,
A Lexicon of Learning, provides clear definitions of educational
terms in everyday language.”
Science Education at Jefferson Lab
http://education.jlab.org/index.html
“Science Education at Jefferson Lab offers 16 hands-on
activities to answer questions such as: How do scientists to
measure the size of an atom? What kind of coat will keep you the
warmest-one made from cotton, steel wool, or air? How should you
build a boat so that it carries the most cargo? Flash cards,
matching games, and crossword puzzles can help students learn the
periodic table of elements and other science information. Middle
school teachers are invited to apply for a summer enrichment
program in basic physics. Jefferson Lab is home to an underground,
race-track shaped tunnel that accelerates electrons to incredible
speeds, so that we can learn about the structure and behavior of
the atom's nucleus. (Department of Energy)” (From FREE)
Getsmarter.org
http://www.getsmarter.org/index.cfm
Getsmarter.org is a fun and somewhat quirky site designed to be
an interactive learning portal which allows students to pit their
wits against their contemporaries worldwide. An initiative from
the bizarrely named Council on Competitiveness, the site provides
students, parents and teachers alike with a fun way of comparing
science and math skills. Various practice quizzes culminate in
'The REAL Challenge', where you can compare your results against
those of other students from around the world who answered the
same questions as part of the Third International Mathematics and
Science Study from 1995 to 1999. For those whose answers are
exceptionally good, there is a chance to feature in the top 10!
The colourful front page is engaging from the start, with
animated, noisy bullets - and a cheery yodel when you click on the
mountain peak link to The REAL Challenge section. The quizzes
themselves are separated into elementary, middle and high school
levels, with section names designed to appeal to the young, such
as the Goo Laboratory, Math Safari and Math and Science
Television. To access the quizzes themselves you do need to input
some basic, impersonal information about yourself, presumably for
the purpose of grading. However, this ensures that the site can
provide you with a different set of questions if you return and
complete the same quiz section more than once. Each question comes
complete with some amusing animations and as you progress through
each grade the level of questions and tone of the animations
changes to suit each audience. The site has a section for parents
and educators, and a survey section for feedback. There is also a
students' page, including various good science, math and problem
solving links, which are also sorted according to elementary,
middle or high school level. A great resource for children,
parents and educators alike - but more importantly, the kids will
love it! Rating: 9 out of 10 LH (From New Scientist Current
Picks)
Animated Engines
http://www.keveney.com/Engines.html
“Animated illustrations that show the inner workings of a
variety of steam, Stirling and internal combustion engines”
-- a total of nineteen different engines. The author, a hobbyist,
provides explanations of each engine type, a brief bibliography,
and an explanation of how the animations were created. (From
Librarian's Index to the Internet)
News Release
http://corporate.britannica.com/press/releases/invention.html
Complete List
http://corporate.britannica.com/press/inventions.html
“Disposable diapers and Post-It Notes stand shoulder to
shoulder with the printing press and telescope in the pantheon of
great inventions, in to a new feature from the editors at
Encyclopedia Britannica.”
“The list, which is arranged alphabetically and does not rank items in order of significance, recognizes many previously unsung inventors whose work has left its mark on everyday life.”
Decades of Discovery
http://www.science.doe.gov/Sub/Accomplishments/Decades_Discovery/decades.htm
“Decades of Discovery describes 100 important discoveries
in energy sciences, nuclear and plasma physics, advanced computing
research, and biological and environmental research. Topics
include the world's toughest microbe, the most distant object ever
observed, why dinosaurs are extinct, how solar energy can be made
more affordable, unraveling the mystery of antimatter, simulating
environmental problems, and others. The 100 discoveries were
selected from work supported during the past 25 years by the
Office of Science at the U.S. Department of Energy. (Department of
Energy)” (From FREE)
GEODE
http://geode.usgs.gov/
At this visually appealing site, visitors can use the GeoData
Explorer (Geode) to view world maps based on population,
transportation, natural resources, political boundaries, and more.
Geographical relationships of data categories can be visualized
with maps of countries of the world. Geographic data collected by
the USGS and other government agencies are available for download
from this site. Sponsored by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
(From Librarian's Index to the Internet)
Ocean World
http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/
Information about many aspects of oceanography: fisheries,
coral reefs, currents, El Niño, icebergs, weather, waves, and
more. Users may Ask Dr. Bob related questions. There are links to
Real Time Data for various oceanographic topics. There is also a
textbook, Introduction to Physical Oceanography, written by Robert
H. Stewart “for upper-division college students and new
graduate students in oceanography, meteorology, and ocean
engineering.” From Texas A&M University. (From Librarian's
Index to the Internet)
When Nature Takes Its Course: In Depth Views from the Keystone-Mast Collection
http://www.cmp.ucr.edu/photography/disasters/
A timeline of seventeen disasters from 1871 through 1933.
Includes stereographic photographs, number of casualties, and cost
of damage for each. Browsable by type of disaster: earthquake,
fires, floods, hurricanes, or volcano eruption. Includes essays.
From the California Museum of Photography, University of California,
Riverside. (From Librarian's Index to the Internet)
Planet Quest
http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/
This informative and comprehensive site tracks the search
for new planets. Visitors to the site learn about the science
of planetary discovery, possible habitable planets,
instruments, and missions. Join the Planet Finder Club and
search the New Worlds Atlas for newly discovered planets
and planetary system information. Educator resources,
multimedia gallery, and related project links are included.
Supported by NASA and sponsored by the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology. (From
Librarian's Index to the Internet)
Bridging the Vector Calculus Gap [.pdf, .tex]
http://www.physics.orst.edu/bridge/
A project underway at Oregon State University is attempting
“to bridge the ‘vector calculus gap’ between the way vector
calculus is usually taught by mathematicians and the way it is
used by other scientists.” Six papers and five presentations
are available on the project's Web site; the documents explain the
importance of the research and propose specific changes to current
teaching methods. The Ideas section looks at four topics in
calculus and considers how mathematicians approach them
differently than other scientists. Some of the material in the
Labs section requires a password, but everything else on the site
is immediately accessible. [CL] (From the Scout Report)
Mountain of Ice
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/vinson/
In January 2001 an eight-person NOVA team stood atop the
highest peak in Antarctica, having arrived by a difficult,
unexplored route over glaciers that hold clues to the future of
Earth's climate. Shot in high definition, “Mountain of
Ice” recounts this expedition to one of the most stunningly
beautiful parts of the planet.
NOVA's expedition up the unclimbed east face of Vinson Massif included Into Thin Air author Jon Krakauer and was led by noted mountaineer Conrad Anker. In 1999 Anker discovered the body of legendary 1920s climber George Mallory on Mount Everest during a search that produced the acclaimed NOVA film “Lost on Everest.”
This website includes interviews, slide shows, panoramas, news video clips and more.
AncientMexico.com [Flash]
http://www.ancientmexico.com/
For thousands of years, numerous cultures flourished within the
region known as Mesoamerica, and their contributions to human
civilization have been well-documented by a host of historians,
anthropologists, and archaeologists. Maintained by Patrick
Olivares, AncientMexico.com offers a number of thematic exhibits,
primary documents, and images that will provide a good overview
of the groups that have lived in this region. The first place to
begin is the detailed clickable map where users can click on close
to twenty different cities of pre-Columbian Mexico. Some of the
city Web pages are “under excavation,” but many of them
contain schematic representations of their urban form and
photographs of the numerous structures (such as ballcourts and
temples), along with explanations of their place within the
culture. The Gods of Ancient Mexico area features images of gods
central to the religious practices of the Maya people, including
the Rabbit Scribe and the Water Lily Jaguar. Particularly helpful
for educational purposes are the primary documents, which include
Hernando Cortes's recollection of his meeting with Montezuma and a
poem by Nezahualcoyotl (Hungry-Coyote), the poet and king of the
Aztec city of Texcoco. [KMG] (From the Scout Report)
Urban Experience in Chicago: Hull-House and its Neighborhoods, 1889-1963
http://www.uic.edu/jaddams/hull/urbanexp/
Sponsored by the Jane Addams Hull House Museum and the
University of Illinois at Chicago, this online project contains a
variety of primary source documents, documentary photographs, and
scholarly essays that explore the legacy of social reform
movements in Chicago and the community's history. There are
several ways to proceed through the exhibit, though visitors may
want to read the introductory essay in order to better understand
the general layout of the site. Most of the substantive material
on the site is contained within the 11 chapters that constitute
the Historical Narrative section. Looking through any one of the
chapters provides visitors with the opportunity to read a brief
orientation essay, and proceed to a closer examination of the
primary documents for a more multifaceted understanding of the
social welfare and reform movements. Finally, there is a search
engine for the entire database, which can be queried by author,
keywords, date, and publication type. [KMG](From the Scout
Report)
Kennewick Man Vitual Exhibit
http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/kman/default.htm
“On July 28, 1996, two men watching the annual hydro boat
races at Columbia Park in Kennewick, Washington, accidentally
found part of a human skull on the bottom of the Columbia River
about ten feet from shore. Later, deliberate searches turned up a
nearly complete male skeleton that is now known as Kennewick
Man.” This exhibit was developed by the Burke Museum of
Natural History and Culture at the University of Washington,
Seattle. It is an excellent site, giving information about the
Kennewick man, about the controversy, and about the concept of
“race”.
The Edge of Enchantment: Sovereignty and Ceremony in Huatulco, Mexico
http://www.nmai.si.edu/edge/flash_eng.html
The experience of place and space in many cultures is one that
finds a variety of expressions, often with a conflation of rituals
and ceremonies with certain physical locales or land formations,
such as hills, bays, rivers, and valleys. This online exhibit from
the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian, created from the
research of Alicia Maria Gonzalez and the photography of Roberto
Ysais, interrogates the importance of different places among the
people of the Huatulco and Huamelula region in Mexico. Visitors
will want to orient themselves to the material covered here by
reading a brief introductory essay composed by Ms. Gonzalez that
discusses her fieldwork and the nature of encantos, or enchanted
places. Given the importance of space and landforms to these
people, it is appropriate that the exhibit is divided into
sections such as rivers, mountains, and valleys. Within each
section, a brief essay is complemented by visual materials, such
as historic photographs of local residents and contemporary
photographs of people and the land. Overall, this is an exhibit
that does a fine job of evoking the power of place among the
people of this region. The exhibit is also available in Spanish.
[KMG] (From the Scout Report)
Lost Treasures of Tibet
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tibet/
Companion website to the NOVA program about restoring beautiful
and crumbling temples in Mustang. Before Leonardo da Vinci painted
“The Last Supper,” Tibetan craftsmen were creating
stunning artistry of their deities in the remote Himalayan kingdom
of Mustang. In “Lost Treasures of Tibet,” NOVA goes
behind the scenes with the first conservation team from the West,
as it undertakes the painstaking restoration of these ancient
masterpieces and the beautiful monasteries that house them.
Located in present-day Nepal, Mustang contains some of the last remaining relics of an almost vanished world of ancient Buddhist culture. Across the border in Tibet, Chinese occupiers have destroyed thousands of monasteries since taking control of the country in 1950. Therefore, the survival of Mustang's monasteries or gompas is more important than ever. But preservation is extremely difficult because of the centuries of neglect, weather, and earthquakes that have brought many buildings to the brink of collapse. Inside, their exquisite murals are in a near-ruined state.
In the course of their restoration work, conservators from the West come face-to-face with a thorny problem of culture clash: local people want missing sections of the murals completed. Westerners are aghast at the idea, but their hosts are equally shocked at the thought of worshiping unfinished deities.
This fascinating website tours you through the process of restoration where science, art, and anthropology combine in the process of making these incredible buildings “whole”.
The following items are from Edupage. To subscribe to Edupage send mail to: listproc@educom.unc.edu with the message: subscribe edupage Anonymous (if your name is Anonymous; otherwise, substitute your own name). To unsubscribe send a message to: listproc@educom.unc.edu with the message: unsubscribe edupage. (If you have subscription problems, send mail to: manager@educom.unc.edu.)
ELECTRICAL OUTLETS OFFER POTENTIAL FOR INTERNET ACCESS
http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/757525p-5471954c.html
St. Louis-based Meren Corp. and other utilities are testing a
technology that would provide high-speed Web access through power
lines, potentially making every electrical outlet a connection to
the Internet. Federal regulators support the concept as a means of
bolstering broadband access, among other benefits, and tout the
advantage of employing an existing infrastructure of power lines.
Broadband providers, meanwhile, point out that the idea has been
around for years without concrete results. Network interference,
transformers, and surge arrestors have hindered broadband
delivery, although improved technology over the past few years has
reduced many of these problems. Tests to date have been small, and
none of them has demonstrated the concept's technical and
financial viability.
Nando Times, 9 February 2003 (registration req'd) via Edupage.
ELSEVIER SCIENCE REVISITS DELETION POLICY
http://chronicle.com/free/2003/02/2003021002t.htm
Elsevier Science has adopted new procedures for managing journal
articles in its databases that it considers tainted by plagiarism,
fraud, or other scholarly misconduct. Critics had charged that the
publisher's earlier approach of removing articles from its
databases with little explanation could damage scholarly endeavors.
The new plan specifies rules by which Elsevier will delete or
replace articles in its ScienceDirect database or flag them as
having problems. A retraction notice explaining why an article has
been retracted will link to the original article. Articles that
pose a legal threat will be removed completely, leaving only the
title and author's name with a note to that effect. The publisher
did not explain whether the new policy will be applied to articles
already removed from ScienceDirect.
Chronicle of Higher Education, 10 February 2003 via Edupage.
STUDY SAYS OPEN-SOURCE CODE IS HIGHER-QUALITY CODE
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-985221.html
Reasoning, a consulting firm that offers software inspection
services, found fewer errors in the networking TCP/IP code in
Linux than in five other closed-source operating systems. Per
1,000 lines of code, the Linux defect rate was 0.1, compared to
between 0.6 and 0.7 for general-purpose operating systems (two of
three were UNIX versions) and between 0.1 and 0.3 for two embedded
operating systems. Reasoning obtained access to proprietary
software for the test but would not disclose the names of the
operating systems that were compared to version 2.4.19 of the
Linux kernel. Offered through Red Hat and SuSE, Linux competes
with Microsoft Windows and UNIX-based operating systems such as
Sun Microsystems' Solaris, IBM's AIX, and Hewlett-Packard's HP-UX.
The study bolsters the view that open-source software is better
than proprietary code because it allows for wider scrutiny, which
translates to quicker identification and resolution of software
problems.
CNET, 19 February 2003 via Edupage
EUROPEAN COMMISSION PLANS CYBERSECURITY AGENCY
http://www.itworld.com/Sec/2199/030210eucybersecurity/
The European Commission proposed creating the European Network and
Information Security Agency to provide advice for the 15 EU
members on cybersecurity issues. The agency is scheduled to begin
operating in January 2004, at a site to be chosen by the
governments of the 15 member states. The commission has set aside
$26 million to fund the agency over the next five years, with
additional funds planned to support the 10 new member states
expected to join in 2004. The agency will assist EU members' own
cybercrime authorities, specifically computer emergency response
teams. The increased coordination among member states is expected
to benefit the EU as a whole in achieving a high level of security
for Internet use.
ITWorld, 10 February 2003 via Edupage.
ADVISORY GROUPS TO OVERSEE TIA PROGRAM
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/08/national/08PRIV.html
The Pentagon formed an internal and an external committee to
address privacy concerns arising from the Total Information
Awareness (TIA) program in a move to prevent Congress from
monitoring the program too closely. Headed by John Poindexter, TIA
aims to identify terrorists by monitoring Internet usage and
commercial and financial databases in the U.S. and abroad. A
Senate amendment last month banned deployment of the program and
curbed research for it. The Pentagon formed the advisory panels to
minimize the scope of the provision, now before a House-Senate
conference committee, by convincing Congress that the committees
will adequately address balancing security and privacy concerns.
Senator Ron Wyden, who sponsored the provision, noted that the
panels “did not get an election certificate” and that
“Congress on a bipartisan basis is going to continue to
demand accountability, oversight, and legally established
safeguards.”
New York Times, 8 February 2003 (registration req'd) via Edupage.
MIT LIFTS RACE RESTRICTIONS ON SUMMER PROGRAMS
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/12/education/12MIT.html
Fearing a legal challenge, the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) will accept students of all races in two summer
math and science programs created for minority students. Geared to
high school students and incoming freshman, the programs have
enrolled only African-American, Hispanic, and Native-American
students since their inception. Two conservative groups, the
Center for Equal Opportunity and the American Civil Rights
Institute, are forcing the policy change, having argued in a
letter to MIT that the current policy does not “square with
the law” under Title VI of the civil rights code. The groups
plan to investigate race-based programs and policies at Cornell
and other universities, although no other complaints have been
filed to date. The letter to MIT was prompted by the mother of a
white high school student who wanted to enter one of the programs.
Robert Redwine, dean of undergraduate education, wants to continue
MIT's commitment to serving minority students, but feels the
university “had no choice” in the matter.
New York Times, 11 February 2003 (registration req'd) via Edupage.
INCREASING RESTRICTIONS ANNOY AND FRUSTRATE RESEARCHERS
http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20030211/04
As concerns grow over U.S. national security, citizens of other
countries are having increasing difficulty entering the United
States as students and researchers, frustrating academics and
stalling some research projects. Everett I. Mendelsohn, a
professor at Harvard University, relayed a story about students
trying to attend Harvard who grew so frustrated with attempts to
obtain visas that they decided to study in Paris instead. Brendan
O'Brien of Cornell University said delays with visas have
prevented 15 Cornell students from returning since going home for
the holidays. In another case, two physicians from Bangladesh were
supposed to have entered the United States to conduct research at
Cornell. One arrived on schedule in September, but the other man
remains in Bangladesh after his visa, which had been approved,
somehow vanished. Researchers involved in the Cornell project have
appealed to their Congressman for assistance. In the meantime,
officials say a lot of time-sensitive research is at risk.
The Scientist, 11 February 2003 via Edupage.
FACULTY MEMBER PROPOSES BAN OF CERTAIN CONTENT AT CAL POLY
http://chronicle.com/free/2003/02/2003022101t.htm
Responding to what she sees as an increasingly offensive and
threatening environment on campus, Linda Vanasupa of California
Polytechnic State University has written a resolution that would
ban viewing pornography, obscenity, or hate literature on
computers at the school. Last year, the chair of Vanasupa's
department was convicted of misusing a state computer, having
downloaded thousands of pornographic images to it, and left the
university in the wake of the scandal. Vanasupa said the
“lack of sensitivity around this issue” is “a form
of hostility.” The resolution allows for exceptions to the
policy for faculty or students who can demonstrate an academic
need to access such materials, but Paul J. Zingg, Cal Poly's
provost, said the proposal is “fundamentally in opposition
to the spirit of inquiry that is critical to the academy.”
The resolution is expected to be presented to the Academic Senate,
where Vanasupa believes there to be sufficient support for debate
on the Senate floor.
Chronicle of Higher Education, 21 February 2003 via Edupage.
Bzzzpeek
http://www.flat33.com/bzzzpeek/
What does a German cat sound like? How about a Hungarian
chicken? Fans of sound-art will thoroughly enjoy this Flash site
that presents a "collection of onomatopoeia from around the
world." It captures the voices of kids and focuses on their
pronunciation of animal and vehicle sounds in different languages.
Hear these plucky little kids meow in German, hiss in Japanese,
and quack in Russian. Or honk if you want to hear the curious
sounds issued when kids are asked to imitate vehicles -- police
cars and trains make for interesting subjects. After tuning in to
some of these clips, you might wonder whether the kids of
different nationalities are actually imitating the same animals.
The results are charming and amusing nonetheless. Take note -- if
you have a little one at home who can roar like a lion or cluck
like a chicken, the site wants to hear their perky pipes. (From
Yahoo's Picks of the Week) Linguists, enjoy!
Playing with Time
http://www.playingwithtime.org/
Speed up the world until it's just a blur or slow it down to a mere
crawl. Either way, you'll gain a new perspective. The Gallery of
Time features more than 80 short QuickTime movies that use time-lapse
photography or slow motion to show how the world around us changes.
Natural views are popular, and the speeded-up videos show subtle
changes you wouldn't notice at a normal pace. Four months of spring
growth around a northern Wisconsin stream and a year of seasonal
change in a New York forest whiz by. Coastal evolution takes less
than a minute as animation shows the probable 7,000-year creation
of Cape Cod, and scurrying tourists make Walden Pond look anything
but idyllic on a sunny day. You can slow things down to catch
close-ups of a blinking eye, a milk-slurping cat, and a vibrating
cymbal. Explosions and impacts look especially fascinating in
slow-mo, as the firecracker, jackhammer, and breaking glass can
attest. After spending some quality time with this site, you're
sure to see the world in a different light. (Fom Yahoo's Picks of the Week)
All items from the Scout Report are copyright Susan Calcari, 1994-2003. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of the Scout Report provided the copyright notice and this paragraph is preserved on all copies. The InterNIC provides information about the Internet to the US research and education community under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation: NCR-9218742. The Government has certain rights in this material.
Blue Web'n is a searchable library of Blue-Ribbon Web sites categorized by grade level, content area, and type. Visit Blue Web'n online at http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/bluewebn/.
Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this newsletter are those of the participants (authors), and do not necessarily represent the official views, opinions, or policy of the National Science Foundation.