Research and Education
Created by Lex Talkington Design, Inc. this visually stimulating and engaging website takes visitors into the AIDS pandemic and how it has affected children throughout the developing world. After a brief introduction, visitors will be presented with a rotating series of images that profile different children from Thailand, India, Kenya, and a host of other places. Upon clicking each icon, visitors can then read short narratives about young people like Fred in Uganda, who at age eight became the primary caregiver for his younger brother after his parents both succumbed to AIDS. All told, the site contains over two dozen profiles that offer unique, albeit troubling, portraits of the struggles faced by young people who are coping with the increasingly widespread effects of this disease. [KMG]
http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2008/criticalcondition/
Health care reform has been on the minds of many Americans in the past decade or so, and this recent documentary from the P.O.V. series on PBS takes a critical look at the "human consequences of an increasingly expensive and inaccessible system." Directed by Roger Weisberg, the film draws on the cinéma vérité style that he deployed in his film "Waging a Living" from 2006. In this film, Weisberg looks at people struggling to pay their health care bills in places like Austin, Texas, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and Los Angeles. On the homepage dedicated to this thought-provoking documentary, users can get basic facts about the uninsured in the in the United States, and also learn what has happened to the people profiled in the documentary since the film was released. As with other P.O.V. sites, visitors can also chime in via the "Talking Back" section and view an interview with the filmmaker. [KMG]
The rural landscape of England has been greatly transformed over the past few decades, and this particular research initiative based at the University of Newcastle was created in order "to investigate the social, economic, environmental and technological challenges faced by rural areas." Visitors to the site should note the main divisions, which include "Research", "Events", and "Publications/Press". For researchers and scientists, the "Publications/Press" area will be a special treat, as it features briefing papers, annual reports, and their policy series. The topics covered here are quite diverse and recent paper titles include "Eating Biodiversity: An Investigation of the Links Between Quality Food Production and Biodiversity Protection" and "The Role of Regulation in Developing Biological Alternatives to Pesticides". Policy practitioners and others working in the areas of land use planning and rural economic development will want to return to the site and check up on future developments, and it may even help those looking at comparative studies in these areas. [KMG]
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Research office works to provide "better forecasts, earlier warnings for natural disasters and a greater understanding of the Earth." Visitors can find about those subjects here and they may wish to start their journey through the site in the "NOAA Research From A to Z" area. It's a great way to learn about their work on everything from air quality to zoo plankton, and each section contains links to other relevant sites. Moving on, visitors will also want to click on over to the "Climate Research" area which provides updates on their work on modeling climate change, the ozone layer, and other germane matters. Of course, visitors would be remiss not to look at the "Weather Research" area as this is where NOAA research truly shines. [KMG]
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=1200009
The American Health Association doesn't have a monopoly on suggestions for leading a healthy lifestyle, but they certainly have some of the most authoritative information on exercise tips, weight management, and diet. On the "Healthy Lifestyle" site, interested parties can look over sections such as "Health Tools", "Cholesterol Low Down", and "Managing Your Weight". The "Health Tools" area is a good place to start and visitors can download handy charts to keep track of heart health issues like blood pressure and also even take a heart health quiz. Visitors with an interest in physiology may wish to click on the "Your Heart and How it Works" feature. Here they can learn about the workings of the heart via a simple diagram and some explanatory text. While the general public may appreciate the basic information found on the site, public health students and others may value looking at the site as a model of how to convey important health information in a clear and well-organized fashion. [KMG]
http://www.blink.biz/immunoanimations/
No one ever said immunobiology was easy, but this handy collection of Flash-animated features from the design company Blink does make a number of processes and concepts a bit easier to understand. What is perhaps most impressive about the site is the ability it gives visitors to tweak certain viewing preferences, sound settings, and even the size of the actual animated feature. Narrated by a pleasant sounding voice, the animated features cover such topics as phagocytosis, rolling adhesion, and gene recombination. It is worth noting that visitors also have the option to fast forward and rewind to segments that interest them, and they can also print out screenshots from each feature. Also, users of the site can change the display format of each feature as they see fit. [KMG]
http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2008/0720_mountainmegas_sarzynski.aspx
In the years after the Civil War, the population of the intermountain West began to boom as people moved across the Mississippi River for new opportunities as homesteaders, prospectors, and enterprising dry goods merchants. 130 years later or so, it appears that this region of the United States is experiencing yet another renaissance. This report from the Brookings Institution's "Blueprint for American Prosperity" series takes a close look at the growth this region has experienced in recent years. Written by Robert E. Lang, Andrea Sarzynski, and Mark Muro, the report is divided into six chapters, including "Megapolitan Development in the Intermountain West" and "Forging a New Federal-Mega Agenda for the Intermountain West". Visitors can also avail themselves of a brief executive summary if they are in a hurry, and they may also wish to pay particular attention to the report's conclusions as well. [KMG]
Designed as a collaborative venture between the Nature Conservancy and the World Wildlife Fund, the Freshwater Ecoregions of the World (FEOW) site provides a dynamic visual representation of the Earth's freshwater biodiversity. Visitors to the site can find detailed information about 426 different freshwater systems from China to Chile. First-time users can click on the map of the world on the homepage, or they can also click on the "Highlights" area. Visitors with defined interests can also use the "Find an Ecoregion" section to perform a detailed search across the entire database of regions, and they can also browse by country, major habitat type, and major rivers. It's easy to see how this site would be a terrific resource for ecology students in high school or college. [KMG]
