Scientific American Magazine podcasts

Scientific American Magazine: The latest science news and science articles: "Join host Steve Mirsky each week as he explores the latest developments in science and technology through interviews with leading scientists and journalists.

FEBRUARY 08, 2006
Episode 1
In this episode, Scientific American editor-in-chief John Rennie reflects on the Korean stem cell debacle; the National Inventors Hall of Fame announces this year's inductees; and evolution defender Eugenie Scott discusses the importance of the decision in the recent Dover evolution trial. Also: hear outtakes from the CSI show you're never going to see on TV. "

Communities of Practice Learning Center

Communities of Practice Learning Center: "Welcome to the Communities of Practice Learning Center.

Dedicated to the study of Communities of Practice by promoting and supporting scholarly research and discussion, the CoPLC was created through the communal efforts of University of Maryland College of Information Studies students"

found on Christina's LIS Rant -- http://christinaslibraryrant.blogspot.com/2006/02/communities-of-practice-learning.html

Pity the Scientist Who Discovers the Discovered - New York Times

Pity the Scientist Who Discovers the Discovered - New York Times: "It may seem odd that scientists in the Internet age spend years on a line of research, even bet their careers on it, without having first determined that their mountain had not already been climbed. But Dr. Stigler said that scientists often are ignorant of the work being done by others in their field, and searches of scientific literature can be hard to conduct."

Explore Polymers - Chemical Heritage Foundation

Explore Polymers - Chemical Heritage Foundation: "

Polymers are macromolecules�in other words, they are really big molecules, and they are all around us. But as big as they are in the molecular world, we can�t actually see individual polymers with the naked eye, but we can see all the things made of polymers.

Some polymers occur naturally, such as starch, protein, and cellulose. Starch, as you know, is found in many foods (who can resist the beloved starchy potato?). Cotton and wood are made of cellulose. And your silk dress or tie? Protein.

A real cultural and commercial revolution came when chemists began to synthesize polymers in the lab. These polymers, appropriately called synthetic polymers, can be found in everything from plastic bags to rubber tires, from water-proof fabrics to cell phones. If you�ve heard of nylon, rayon, vinyl, Teflon, or Tupperware, then you�ve heard of polymers."

How Products Are Made

How Products Are Made: "How Products Are Made explains and details the manufacturing process of a wide variety of products, from daily household items to complicated electronic equipment and heavy machinery. The site provides step by step descriptions of the assembly and the manufacturing process (complemented with illustrations and diagrams) Each product also has related information such as the background, how the item works, who invented the product, raw materials that were used, product applications, by-products that are generated, possible future developments, quality control procedures, etc.

For example, you can find here descriptions of Air Bag, Air Conditioner, Artificial Snow, Automobile, Battery, Blue Jeans, Chewing Gum, Coin, Compact Disc, Credit Card, DVD Player, Fireworks, Hologram, Jet Engine, Laser Pointer, Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), Nuclear Submarine, Paint, Popcorn, Refrigerator, Telephone, Television, Temporary Tattoo, Vaccine, Vacuum Cleaner or Watch.

This searchable site is suited for a general audience and the descriptive language of this reference material is easy to understand and to follow. So go ahead we invite you to learn about How Products Are Made! "

The end of an era

Western Union Telegrams | Send a Telegram | Birthday Telegrams | Sympathy Telegrams | Get Well Telegrams: "Effective January 27, 2006, Western Union will discontinue all Telegram and Commercial Messaging services. We regret any inconvenience this may cause you, and we thank you for your loyal patronage.

I remember getting telegrams in university (do I date myself) telling me I had a job interview.

As seen on CHMINFO-L -- cas has blog

We are happy to inform you that CAS has released a basic RSS feed from the www.cas.org web site.

This will initially be a single feed that will encompass all news and updates from CAS. Additional feeds, perhaps on specific topics, might be offered in the future depending on feedback and user requests.