Recommended Websites on Scifun.org

General Science              Specialized Areas             People in Science              Kids & Parents


Specialized Areas

Society Civic Science Initiative
https://www.societycivicscience.org/

This group of scientific societies works to strengthen and expand their collective capacity to support scientists to effectively engage with decision makers and members of the public.

   

Cadence: Music on the Mind (podcast)
https://soundcloud.com/cadencepodcast/

Cadence is a podcast about music: how it affects your brain, your life, and the community in which you live.

Join our host, cognitive neuroscientist and classically trained opera singer Indre Viskontas while we talk to scientists, musicians, musicologists, and composers to find answers to some of the biggest questions still surrounding the intersection of music and science. How much can we learn about the mind with music as the lens?

Cadence Podcast


What We Know

What We Know
http://whatweknow.aaas.org/

Based on the evidence, about 97% of climate experts have concluded that human-caused climate change is happening. What We Know helps us understand the science behind the realities, risks and response to the climate challenge.

   

WeatherSchool @ AAAS
http://weatherschool.aaas.org/

WeatherSchool @ AAAS was developed by researchers at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) to help you explore how different factors—time of the year, location, or elevation—work together to produce the day-to-day weather you experience in your local community as well as the overall climate for the region of the world where you live. WeatherSchool can be used by anyone with an interest in weather and climate.

WeatherSchool


An Introduction to Green Flashes
http://mintaka.sdsu.edu/GF/index.html

This site helps to illustrate and explain the phenomena of the green flashes seen at sunrise and sunset, when some part of the sun suddenly changes color, and provides information about other refraction phenomena, such as mirages.


NOAA Climate Service
http://www.noaa.gov/climate.html

This is the web site of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a federal agency that’s been keeping track of weather for 130 years. It contains hundreds of articles, videos, images and graphs (some interactive) concerning the past, present and future of Earth’s climate. It also has a link to the National Weather Service, a division of the Administration, where you can get the latest weather forecast for your zip code. Any questions you may have about global climate change and its effects are probably answered on this easily searchable site.



Recent Earthquake Teachable Moments
http://www.iris.edu/hq/retm

A service of IRIS -- Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology -- this useful site provides detailed information and teaching tools relating to recent earthquakes world wide. Examples of these tools include PowerPoint slides, seismic wave propagations, material from earthquake experts and news coverage of the actual events. Spanish language materials are often included.


Earth Portal
http://www.earthportal.org/

This site advocates for the use of science, but provides a neutral forum on issues, and is an excellent source of news, articles and other information. The stated goal of Earth Portal is “iImproving the scientific basis for environmental decision making.” It’s run by the National Council for Science and the Environment, a non-profit organization founded in 1990. A majority of the Council’s funding comes from foundations, with other major contributions from colleges, universities and government agencies. The Council does not take positions on environmental outcomes.



SETI Institute
http://www.seti.org

Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence (SETI.org). This site includes many articles, photos, teachers’s guides and other materials concerning radio-astronomy and the search for other intelligence in the universe. It also tells how you can use your home PC to aid the search by analyzing data from the Arecibo Radio Telescope–thousands of PCs are already using the free screensaver/software.



Periodic Table of the Elements
from the American Chemical Society

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/80th/elements.html

This is the web version of a special edition of Chemical and Engineering News which featured short and interesting essays about every element, written by distinguished scientists. Professor Shakhashiri wrote the essay on lead–you can take a shortcut to it by clicking on the picture of Bucky Badger on our home page.



The Particle Adventure
http://particleadventure.org/

The Particle Adventure, from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Supported by the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation, the site offers an interactive tour of sub atomic particles. From basic to rather advanced material, it’s an excellent, comprehensive treatment of the subject.



Genetic Science Learning Center
http://gslc.genetics.utah.edu

Genetic Science Learning Center, University of Utah. This site does an excellent job of explaining genetics from the basics to somewhat advanced material. It has neat things to do like extracting DNA from any living thing and it also deals with legal and social controversies in a balanced manner.

Genetics


Physics Central
http://www.physicscentral.com

Physics Central, from the American Physical Society. This site has lots of interesting articles from the acoustics of laughter to the physics of computers and building a better turkey. It also has profiles of people in physics, including women and minorities, and great pictures.



AMANDA
Antarctic Muon and Neutrino Detector Array
http://amanda.wisc.edu

IceCube/AMANDA project. The project is searching for elusive sub atomic particles called neutrinos by burying light detectors in Antarctic ice. Only neutrinos can provide information about supernovas and what goes on in black holes. The site has articles, photos, movies and animation.

Genetics


Sun-Earth Viewer
http://ds9.ssl.berkeley.edu/viewer/flash/

From NASA and Ideum, a company that provides media services to museums, schools, non-profit organizations and corporations. This site allows the viewer to zoom and pan live solar and Earth images from NASA. It also contains video interviews with scientists and detailed scientific animations and visualizations. Viewing this site requires a Flash 6 Player.
You can view past SOHO images and movies of the sun directly from NASA here



Snow Crystals
http://www.snowcrystals.com/

Created by Caltech physicist Kenneth G. Libbrecht, this site has just about everything you could want to know about snowflakes and crystal formation in ice. (It’s true that no two are exactly alike, though there are categories of snowflakes.) There are lots of pictures and information on things you can do, like grow your own snowflake crystals. A great site about a fascinating subject.

Genetics


The Wonders of Physics
http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/wop.htm

An on-line guide to shows produced by the University of Wisconsin-Madison physics department, this site gives details of the annual shows in Madison as well as traveling shows, and offers tapes of the shows and software for physics demonstrations.



The Physics of Baseball
http://www.npl.uiuc.edu/~a-nathan/pob

The Physics of Baseball, run by University of Illinois Physics Professor Alan Nathan, who is obviously a baseball nut. Offers physics lessons from the relatively basic (wood versus aluminum bats), to more advanced (advanced vibration damping technique in aluminum bats). A kid could get hooked on science through this site.

Genetics


Animal Info
http://www.animalinfo.org

Animal Info, Information on Endangered Species. This site includes extensive information, many pictures and interactive tools as well as links to other sites and organizations. It can be searched by species, category or country. A great site on a topic of strong interest.



 

 

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