Learning Science Through Technology
Newsletter for February 2001
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http://www.ScienceMaster.com
WEB SITE NEWS
New JumpStart Pages
- Have you visited our JumpStart Science pages recently? If not, you will want to take a few minutes to explore some of the new pages we have posted. Learn about the solar wind, or discover why leaves change color in the autumn. Take a trip to the moon or spend some time on a coral reef. Each JumpStart page provides fast and concise information on one science topic. Use them to get a quick overview of a topic. Many contain links for further study. And if you have any suggestions on pages you'd like to see us add to our growing collection, please send us an e-mail. More information.
Getting Close to Birds in the Wild
Do you like to take pictures of birds? Want to improve your technique? Well you've come to the right place. ScienceMaster is featuring two informative articles on bird photography by the New York Institute of Photography. Get tips on using a blind to view and photography natural behavior. Learn the fundamental method of tracking your feathered friends. You will also get some insight on bird behavior and understand why patience is your best friend. Take me there now.
Want to see examples of professional bird photography? Look no further than ScienceMaster's Learning Galleries. We are featuring the wildlife photography of Eleanor Briccetti. Her photographs have been displayed at the University of Indianapolis and the Albany Arts Gallery, to name a few, and have been featured in Outdoor California Magazine, Sierra Club Yodeler Magazine and Family News. Take a look.
Searching The Internet From ScienceMaster
Many government agencies maintain extensive web sites. A key feature to any large web site is having a convenience search feature. This lets you to hone in on exactly what you are looking for from oftentimes hundreds of thousands of web pages. We've taken convenience one step further and have created search buttons for NASA, the USGS, the NOAA and the Department of Education right on our pages. You'll find these handy buttons at the bottom of most of the left menu columns. Give the NOAA button right here a try to see what we mean. ScienceMaster - Learning Science Just Got Easier!
SCIENCE NEWS AND LINKS
Astrobiology
Every month we explore many different sources to find the coolest and most amazing science and education web sites. This month we revisited an old favorite of ours, a NASA Ames Research Center site called Astrobiology -- Exploring The Universe. Wow! They've been hard at work. The new design and content make this a MUST-SEE site, with music, animations, graphics, images. There's a lot happening here.
Animation credit - NASA Ames Research Center
Astrobiology is the study of life in the universe. It provides a biological perspective to many areas of NASA research, linking such endeavors as the search for habitable planets, exploration missions to Mars and Europa, efforts to understand the origin of life, and planning for the future of life beyond Earth. With news, information and links to other related site, we recommend Astrobiology - Exploring The Universe.
EROS Data Center
An invaluable online resource for teachers, students and hobbyists is the USGS' Earth Resources Observation Systems (EROS) Data Center's Home Page. Physically located in South Dakota, the EROS Data Center stores, processes and distributes an extensive catalog of cartographic data, satellite data, and aircraft data. The EDC's archives also hold the world's largest collection of civilian remotely sensed data covering the Earth's land masses, housing millions of satellite images and aerial photographs. In a nutshell the EDC supplies earth science data to a worldwide community of users.
The EROS web site provides access to information and ordering instructions for those who wish to purchase data. As with any large web site, the task of finding where you are and what is available can be a bit daunting, but if you stick with it, you will be rewarded with some eye-popping images. For a quick look visit their 'examples page' which includes maps, photographs, digital satellite and aerial data -->
(http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/).
We've put together our own JumpStart page on EROS, with links to sites where you may view USGS maps and aerial photo images from your Web browser -->
(http://www.sciencemaster.com/jump/earth/maps.php)
PLANTS Gallery at the National Plant Data Center
Biology teachers and students --> an extensive database on plants is maintained by The National Plant Data Center (NPDC). The NPDC focuses resources on the acquisition, development, integration, quality control, dissemination and access of plant information. The NPDC is responsible for the PLANTS database and photo gallery, which focuses on the vascular and nonvascular plants of the United States and its territories. The PLANTS database includes checklists, species abstracts, distributional data, crop information, plants symbols, plant growth data, references and other plant information.
Quote of the Month
Even if there is only one possible unified theory, it is just a set of rules and equations. What is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe? The usual approach of science of constructing a mathematical model cannot answer the questions of why there should be a universe for the model to describe. Why does the universe go to all the bother of existing?
Stephen Hawking (1942 - ____) Physicist
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