http://www.research.noaa.gov/oceans/

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) research website on the coasts and the nation's lakes is committed to the proposition that "[k]nowledge of the oceans, their resources and their relationship to human activities is vital to our society." The menu on the left side of the page has nine research areas to explore, including "Habitat Protection and Restoration", "Aquatic Invasive Species", and "Coastal Resource Management". Each area of research includes numerous links to other NOAA websites, as well as a list of NOAA Research Programs of relevance. Clicking on the orange "Education" tab in the middle of the page takes visitors to a page with over a dozen education resources for teachers and students. Just scroll down to the heading Ocean and Great Lakes Information for some fantastic opportunities, such as the "Teacher at Sea Program", "Biscayne Bubbles", and "Interactive Climate Analysis and Data Plotting". [KMG]

To find this resource and more high-quality online resources in math and science visit Scout's sister site - AMSER, the Applied Math and Science Educational Repository at http://amser.org.

http://www.law.harvard.edu/library/special/exhibits/digital/owh-digital-col.html

The Harvard Law School Library digitized its holdings of materials associated with Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., and his family. This website constitutes phase one of the project, and contains items that are related to his service in the 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment of the Union Army, including correspondence, telegrams, and a diary. Click on "Scrapbook" in the first bullet point on the homepage to see Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.'s, scrapbook from the Civil War. The inside cover, which is the second image, shows a handwritten inscription of 1864, and instructions that "the enclosed letters to be buried unread at my death - without fail." The Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. Visual Materials Collection includes "photographs, etchings, drawings, and paintings" of his parents and wife, and can be accessed by clicking a link in the third bullet point on the homepage. Finally, the link to the Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Object Collection is provided in the fourth bullet point on the homepage, and objects in the collection include "Civil War uniform relics, family and personal effects, and a death mask." [KMG]

http://www.globalization-africa.org/index.php

In April 2001, the Globalization Research Center on Africa was established at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The Center was part of the Globalization Research Network, which included similar initiatives at the University of South Florida, George Washington University, and the University of Hawaii-Manoa. Today the Center continues to conduct "research on the dynamics and effects of globalization, with particular emphasis on impacts within Africa." On their homepage, visitors can look at recent news updates ("Africa Globalization in the News") and take a look at their signature projects. These signature projects include the "Global-Link Africa Online Curriculum", which is a multimedia curriculum resource for thinking "about globalization and its relationship with Africa, Africans, and United States-African policy." Users will also want to look through their recent research reports and presentations, which include works on the relationship between African nations and China and water management strategies. [KMG]

http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/uipress/bdi/

The online version of the University of Iowa Press' Biographical Dictionary is a website that just feels welcoming. The colorful 1934 Cesco mural, "Agriculture," featured on its homepage, and portions of it on other sections of the website remind visitors of Iowa's farming roots. In the "Introduction" tab, one of the editors makes the argument that "Iowa’s cultural climate, at least in the last half of the nineteenth century, might have made it more than coincidental that 'a disproportionate share of the influential people of the 1930s came from Iowa.'" Some of these influential people include Herbert Hoover, John L. Lewis, Henry A. Wallace, and Harry Hopkins. Visitors who want to learn more about these famous figures and their Iowa roots can click on the "Browse by Name" tab at the top of the page, choose a link to the first letter of their last name, and read more about them. The "Browse by Topic" tab has over two dozen topics to choose from, including "Ornithology", "Mining", and "Invention". [KMG]

http://www.nea.gov/research/ResearchNotes_chrono.html

Along with their sponsorship of various artistic endeavors, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) creates specialized analyses of topics of interest to policy-makers, arts administrators, and others with an interest in the arts. Their Research Notes papers can be found here, and visitors can browse the papers by the date of their release or by subject. Currently, there are almost 100 papers listed on the site. The first paper was released in 1982, and since then, the NEA has sponsored papers that include "College Course-Taking Patterns in the Arts", "International Data on Government Spending on the Arts", and "Public Participation in the Arts: 1982 and 1992". Finally, the site also contains links to the NEA's research brochures and a place where visitors can sign up to receive email updates about new research publications. [KMG]

http://www.opensecrets.org/

The Center for Responsive Politics has been around for over 25 years and they are primarily focused on "tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy." The Scout Report last profiled the site in 1999, and it remains a very useful place for anyone with an interest in political action committees (PACs), congressional races, and industry profiles. Visitors to the homepage will see the "Capital Eye" weblog front and center, and it's a good place to start. The rest of the material is divided into sections that include "Politicians & Elections", "Influence & Lobbying", "News & Analysis", and "Action Center". If you're looking for political donation information and related materials, check out the "Search" engine on the right-hand side of the homepage. Here visitors can type in a ZIP code, organization, keyword, industry, or name and retrieve publicly available information about campaign donations and the like. For those who want to receive regular updates, there's the "MyOpenSecrets" area. Here interested parties can "watchdog" all the data they want via their handy user interface. [KMG]

http://chla.mannlib.cornell.edu/

How did people raise pigs in the 19th century? What were people talking about in the journal of Agricultural History in 1965? These are but a few of the questions answered in the documents contained within The Core Historical Literature of Agriculture website. Created by staff members at the Albert R. Mann Library at Cornell University, the site contains important agricultural texts from the nineteenth century to the late twentieth century. Visitors can learn more about the collection in the "About" section, and then move along to the "Browse" area. Here visitors can browse all of the titles alphabetically or chronologically. Also, visitors can find the recent additions here underneath the main browsing area. New visitors might want to peruse the 1827 volume "The Honey Bee: its natural history, physiology and management" or the 1921 work, "The Marketing of Whole Milk". [KMG]

http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/2009/RAND_TR719.pdf

This 66 page report released in August 2009 looks into the world of public health emergency preparedness, and for those persons who work in the fields of emergency response policy, public health, or security studies, this work will be most timely. Authored by five researchers at the RAND Corporation this technical report looks into "the roles of the public health service in emergency preparedness and its response to chemical and radiological incidents." The report is divided into four chapters, two appendices, and a references section. As events like nuclear plant accidents, chemical terrorism, and other related occurrences can have tremendous implications for public health, the report is most valuable. [KMG]

To find this resource and more high-quality online resources in math and science visit Scout's sister site - AMSER, the Applied Math and Science Educational Repository at http://amser.org.