Library
Web Reference Sites
Sciences
FirstGov
for Science: This site by Science.gov is a gateway to authoritative
selected science information
provided by U.S. Government agencies, including research and development
results. Explore selected Web sites by topics ranging from Agriculture and
Food to Science Education.
Aladin Sky
Atlas: An interactive software sky atlas that allows
you to view digitized images of any part of the sky, to
superimpose images from an astronomical catalog, and to
interactively access related data.
Astrobiology: Explore the Living
Universe - From NASA, this site offers the latest astrobiology news, an introduction
to and overview of the study of astrobiology, discussions on the technologies
used and future missions, workshop links, educational resources, and an 'Ask
an Astrobiologist' feature.
Astronomy Thesaurus: Astronomy terms in English, French, German, Spanish
and Italian; all terms cross referenced.
Digital Lunar Orbiter Photographic Atlas of the Moon: The definitive reference
manual to the global photographic coverage of the Moon.
Earth from Space: Site presents
the NASA Space Shuttle Earth Observations Photography database of over 375,000
images. A clickable map allows you to view landscapes, hurricanes and weather,
water habitats, and other geographic features.
Eric Weisstein’s World of Astronomy: Online astronomy encyclopedia.
Imagine the Universe!: From
NASA
The Hubble Site: Images, facts, and
news about the Hubble Space Telescope.
Latest Hubble Space Telescope Observations
NASA: The official Web site for NASA.
NASA Astrophysics Data System: Abstracts on astrophysics, astronomy, instrumentation,
geophysics, and physics, plus the Los Alamos preprint server, articles,
and catalogs.
NASA Human SpaceFlight: NASA’s new home for manned mission information,
this site embodies its shuttle and International Space Station sites and its
Exploring Mars site.
National Air and Space Museum: The Smithsonian Institution’s National Air
and Space Museum (NASM) maintains the largest collection of historic air and
spacecraft in the world. Site offers virtual tours, Internet activities, and
extensive links to other air-and-space Web sites.
The Nine Planets: A multimedia
tour of the solar system.
Online Planetarium Show
Planetary
Fact Sheets: This site by NASA’s National Space Science Data Center
provides fact sheets for every planet and for many minor bodies, including
information on mass, rotation and revolution periods, atmospheric composition,
magnetospheric information, and much more.
Solar System Simulator: What would
the Sun look like if you were standing on Saturn? How about if you were standing
on one of Saturn’s nine moons? Become an armchair astronaut and take a virtual
journey through our galaxy with this site developed by NASA, JPL, and Caltech.
Date ranges allow you to travel as far back in time as the 17th century and
as far ahead as the 24th, and additional options track constellation lines,
planetary orbit paths, and more.
Space.com: Promotes a greater public
understanding and enthusiasm about space and space-related subjects.
A Space Library: Here you will find a mixture of space-related images and
programs which will help you visualize the Solar System and NASA space missions
using computer graphics.
SpaceWeather.com: Daily monitoring of solar flares, geomagnetic storms,
Earth’s aurora, and all forms of space weather.
Terra: Satellite data from NASA.
Tonight’s Sky: Each day’s segment is designed to guide your eye to something you can see
that night, or the next morning before dawn.
Visible Earth: NASA’s searchable directory of images, visualizations, and
animations of the Earth.
Windows to the Universe: User-friendly learning system on the earth and
space sciences.
Your Sky: Produce sky maps for any time and date, viewpoint, and observing
location.
A
Look Inside the Human Body: This site gives simple
explanations of six major body systems and how they work.
Conceiving a Clone: This site offers a uniquely well-rounded, nonpartisan
perspective on the subject, with news, details, reactions, and interactions.
Dictionary of Cell and Molecular Biology
EPA
Microbiology Home Page: EPA methods related to bacteria, viruses and
protozoans can be found at this site.
The Genome Gateway: Nature magazine presents this site featuring the Genome
Gateway to mark the publication of the initial sequencing and analysis of the
human genome.
Glossary of Genetic Terms
Gray’s Anatomy of the Human Body
The Heart: An Online Exploration
HighWire Press: Free biology-related
journals online.
Hypermedia Glossary of Genetic Terms
The Hosford Muscle Tables: Skeletal muscles of the human body.
MIT Biology Hypertextbook: Contains a variety of components designed to be used independently or together
to facilitate your understanding of introductory molecular biology.
Species 2000: Species 2000 has the objective of enumerating all known species
of plants, animals, fungi and microbes on earth as the baseline dataset for studies
of global biodiversity.
Upper Extremity Muscle Atlas
The
Visible Human Project: Complete, anatomically detailed, three-dimensional
representations of the normal male and female human bodies.
Agriculture Network Information Center
Botany Encyclopedia of Plants
Checklist of Online Vegetation and Plant Distribution Maps: Includes vegetation
maps from all over the world.
Encyclopedia of Plants: From Martha Stewart’s Web page.
Farmer’s Almanac
GardenWeb Glossary
of Botanical Terms: Contains terms related to botany, gardening, horticulture
and landscape architecture.
Internet Directory of Botany: An index to botanical information available
on the Internet.
National Gardening: The official site of The National Gardening Association
provides information on all aspects of gardening including how-to guides, featured
articles, a seasonal gardening guide, and regional reports on garden tips and
resources.
NeoFlora: Claiming to be the world’s
largest plant database, site has over 38,000 entries with everything from
trees to tropicals.
Poisonous Plants Guide: Online guide on more than 100 poisonous plants.
Transgenic
Crops: An Introduction and Resource Guide: The goal of this Web site
is to provide balanced information and links to other resources on the technology
and issues surrounding transgenic crops (also known as genetically modified
crops).
USDA Plant Hardiness
Zone Map
Chemguide: Helping
you to understand chemistry.
Chemistry Tutor: Web
pages to help you get through your chemistry homework!
CHEMystery: An interactive guide to chemistry.
ChemWeb: Includes a library of chemical journals, databases of chemical
structures, and much, much more.
Eric Weisstein’s World
of Chemistry: Online chemistry encyclopedia.
Hazardous Chemical Database
Periodic Table of the Elements: With information on each element (from Los Alamos National Laboratory).
BABEL:
A Glossary of Computer Terms
CyberAtlas: Contains Internet news and information, research reports tracking
Internet usage, as well as usage breakdowns by Web site, demographic, locale,
and computing platform.
FilExt: The File Extension Source
FreeAnswers.com: This site lets you solve computer-related problems simply
by asking questions in plain, everyday language to access knowledge bases from
Microsoft, Intuit (makers of Quicken) and Adobe, with more vendors planned.
FreeSkills.com: Free online computer training.
Glossary of Domain Name Terms
Glossary of Java-Related Terms
Hardware
Central Tutorials: Free how-tos dealing with many aspects of computer
hardware optimization and repair.
Internet Traffic Report: This Web site will tell you if those regions of the Internet are currently
slowed down.
LivingInternet.com: Describes
the Internet’s history, how it works, how to use it, security issues, and related
information.
PC Webopedia: Dictionary of computer
terms.
Scanner Tips: A user-friendly collection of scanning tips, hints and other
help with the fundamentals of scanning.
Security Response: Latest virus and other computer security threats.
Stolen Computer Registry: Search for or list serial numbers of stolen computers.
TechEncyclopedia - More than 13,000 definitions of computer terms and concepts.
Vmyths.com: Learn about computer virus myths, hoaxes, urban legends, hysteria,
and the implications if you believe in them. You can also search a list of computer
virus hoaxes from A to Z.
Whatis?com: IT terms and reference material.
What’s In That Box?: Multimedia presentation of the parts of a computer.
ZDNet Help and How-To: Tech support assistance for your hardware and software
problems and questions. Excellent software guides also available.
ANSI Online: American
National Standards Institute.
Engineering Resources Online
Greatest Engineering Achievements
of the 20th Century
Skyscraper
Statistics: Information on the tallest skyscrapers, the cities with
the most impressive skylines, and regions most active in building skyscrapers.
A Sightseer’s Guide to Engineering: Site contains engineering sights to see like the Hoover Dam, the Golden Gate
Bridge, and over 200 other engineering projects nationwide.
American
Field Guide: Over 1,400 video clips that enable you
to experience America’s wilderness firsthand - simply browse
the topics or search for your particular interests.
Dive and Discover: Expeditions to the Seafloor: Join scientists as they
dive to the mid-ocean ridge thousands of meters deep. Explore towering underwater
volcanoes, black smokers, and more.
EarthExplorer: This is an interactive computer system developed by the U.S.
Geological Survey (USGS) for scientists seeking sources of information about
the Earth’s land surfaces.
Earth from Space: Site presents
the NASA Space Shuttle Earth Observations Photography database of over 375,000
images. A clickable map allows you to view landscapes, hurricanes and weather,
water habitats, and other geographic features.
Earth Observatory: The
purpose of NASA’s Earth Observatory is to provide a freely-accessible publication
on the Internet where the public can obtain new satellite imagery and scientific
information about our home planet. The focus is on Earth’s climate and environmental
change.
Earthquake Activity in the United States: Seismic maps of recent earthquake
activity from the U.S. Geological Survey.
Earthquake Hazards Program: From the USGS,
this site offers frequently asked questions about earthquakes, research on earthquakes,
and more. Visitors
can follow recent seismic activity around the world, view hazard maps, or learn
what a geophysicist does.
eNature.com: The eNature.com Online
Field Guide is a searchable database for identifying more than 4,000 plant
and animal species of North America.
Encyclopedia of the Atmospheric Environment: The Encyclopedia is a one-stop
source of information on a range of atmospheric issues, including air quality,
acid rain, global warming and ozone depletion.
Encyclopedia of Sustainable Development: The Encyclopedia is a one-stop
source of information on sustainable development.
Florida Department of Environmental Protection
GeologyLink: Geology news, virtual classroom, virtual field trips, and more.
Global Forest Watch: An international data and mapping network that combines
on-the-ground knowledge with digital technology to provide accurate information
about the world’s forests.
GeoMan’s Glossary of Earth Science Terms
Green Map System: Charts ecologically
significant places.
HazDat Database: The scientific and administrative database developed to
provide access to information on the release of hazardous substances from Superfund
sites or from emergency events and on the effects of hazardous substances on
the health of human populations.
National Geophysical Data Center: The National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) is the national repository for
geophysical data, providing a wide range of science data services and information.
National Marine Sanctuaries: From the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
this site provides information about our nation’s marine sanctuaries — how they
were established, how they're managed, their scientific and educational programs,
and events that occur in them throughout the year. Within the 13 sites
are a range of creatures, habitats, historical artifacts, and flourishing maritime
cultures.
National Oceanic Data Center: Information and statistics about the world’s
oceans.
OceanLink - Marine science information and interaction.
Oceanography: The U.S.
Navy Office of Naval Research presents this science and technology site with
a focus on ocean facts and information including waves, tides, currents,
habitats, marine mammals and more.
PALEOMAP Projec: Illustrates the plate tectonic
development of the ocean basins and continents, as well as the changing distribution
of land and sea during
the past 1,100 million years.
PlanetDiary: Every week, this site presents geological, astronomical, meteorological,
biological, and environmental news from around the globe.
Sea and Sky: Multimedia explorations.
A Tapestry of Time and Terrain: Using computers, the U.S. Geological Survey
has combined two maps showing the topography and geology of the lower 48 states.
Also adds geologic time to show all the events that have shaped the U.S. over
the last 2.6 billion years.
Terra - Satellite data from NASA.
USDA Forest Service: Site
is a portal to the official Web sites of the 155 National Forest Lands and 20
National Grasslands across the country. You can browse the listings via an interactive
map, by name, state, or region.
United States Geological Survey
USGS Geologic Time: Online edition of the print publication on geologic time.
Visible Earth: NASA’s searchable directory of images, visualizations, and
animations of the Earth.
Water Where You Live: Click on a state in the map below to find water information
provided by EPA.
Earth Observatory: The purpose of NASA’s Earth Observatory is to provide
a freely-accessible publication on the Internet where the public can obtain new
satellite imagery and scientific information about our home planet. The focus
is on Earth’s climate and environmental change.
Extreme Weather Sourcebook: Site produced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration presents economic and other societal impacts related to hurricanes,
floods, tornadoes, lightning, and other U.S. weather phenomena.
Hopkins Glossary of Weather Terms
Lightning
Explorer: This site provides lightning information from the National
Lightning Detection Network of all lightning activity in the continental
United States.
National Weather Service: Weather maps, forecasts, global weather data,
and more.
Unisys Weather: Graphical weather data.
Washington Post Weather Glossary
Weather.com: The Weather Channel forecasts and weather maps.
What Forces Affect Our
Weather?
What’s Up with the Weather?: This joint site by NOVA and FRONTLINE investigates the science and politics
of one of the most controversial issues of the 21st century: the truth about
global warming.
Wind Chill Temperature Index
Center for the History
of Physics: Site offers the history of modern physics
and allied fields including astronomy, geophysics, and optics.
Elementary
Particle Physics Glossary
Eric Weisstein’s World of Physics: Online physics encyclopedia.
The Laws List: Physics rules, principles, effects, paradoxes, limits, constants,
experiments, and thought-experiments arranged alphabetically.
NASA Astrophysics Data System: Abstracts on astrophysics, astronomy, instrumentation, geophysics, and physics,
plus the Los Alamos preprint server, articles, and catalogs.
The Particle Adventure - Site allows you to explore the world of fundamental
particles and forces and then to investigate the experimental evidence and techniques.
Physical Reference Data: Includes physical constants, and other data on
spectroscopy, ionizing radiation and dosimetry, nuclear and condensed matter
physics, and more.
Physics 2000: An interactive journey through modern physics.
Physics Applets: Interactive Java curriculum modules from the University
of Oregon Physics department. Topics include mechanics, energy, thermodynamics,
and astrophysics.
Physics Virtual Laboratory: Java Applets, VRML and ShockWave for visualization
and demonstration in the world of physics.
PhysLink Reference Center: Includes a physics glossary, list of astro-physical
constants, unit conversions, student and teacher resources and much more.
Visual Physics: Visual Physics is a free powerful tool for physics students
and teachers which integrates Internet resources while learning the science of
physics.
The
ABC’s of Animal Taxonomy: Understanding the science
of classifying plants and animals into species and logical
groups of species..
AmphibiaWeb: This Web site on
amphibian biology and conservation contains information on over 130 species.
It provides species descriptions, life history information, conservation status,
photos, and literature references.
Animal Bytes: From Busch Gardens, this database was designed to help you quickly find information
about some of the unique creatures found in the animal kingdom. Most files
include the scientific classification, fun facts, and biological value.
Animal Info: Information on rare, threatened, and endangered animals.
Animal Diversity Web: Excellent phylogeny and content on a huge variety of species.
Care for Pets: Site
by the American Veterinary Medical Association offering information about
specific animal ailments, advice on selecting a veterinarian and pet safety
tips.
Digital Dog: Information about dog breed’s temperament and the possible
physical or behavioral flaws found in each breed.
eNature.com: The eNature.com Online
Field Guide is a searchable database for identifying more than 4,000 plant
and animal species of North America.
Guide to the Animal Kingdom for Students and Educators: A simplified (and
somewhat abbreviated) classification scheme for the whole animal kingdom.
Merck Veterinary Manual: This site by Merck provides animal care information,
including over 12,000 indexed topics and over 1,200 illustrations. At this comprehensive
site, you can search by topic, species, specialty, disease, and keyword using
advanced search features..
Sue at the Field Museum: Site about Sue, the largest, most complete, and best preserved Tyrannosaurus
Rex skeleton ever found.
Catalog
of the Scientific Community in the 16th and 17th Centuries: This catalog is a collection of 631 detailed biographies
on members of the scientific community during the 16th
and 17th centuries with vital facts about each individual
and their contributions to science.
Essays on Science and Society
Everyday Science: A radio
series of two-minute vignettes that explore the wonders of science found
in our everyday lives in a creative and interesting approach.
The National Inventors Hall of Fame: Biographical information on inventors,
searchable by inventor’s name or by invention.