Category Archives: Biosciences

NASA apps: global planet changes, NASA content and television

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Featured NASA Apps

NASA Spinoff

NASA Spinoff App
NASA Spinoff profiles the best examples of technology that have been transferred from NASA research and missions into commercial products. From life-saving satellite systems to hospital robots that care for patients and more, NASA technologies benefit society. There’s more space in your life than you think!
› Get the iPad App →
Related: › Technology Innovation iPad App →

 

Images of Change

 

Earth as Art

 

Human activities, a changing climate and natural disasters are rapidly altering the face of our planet. Now, with NASA’s Images of Change iPad application, users can get an interactive before-and-after view of these changes.

 

› Read More
› Get the iPad App→

NASA App

NASA App
The NASA App showcases a huge collection of the latest NASA content, including images, videos on-demand, NASA Television, mission information, news & feature stories, latest tweets, ISS sighting opportunities, satellite tracking, Third Rock Radio and much more.

Source: http://www.nasa.gov/connect/apps.html#.VHYWqTHF_To

Global Forest Watch — Internet Resource

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http://www.globalforestwatch.org/(reviewed in CHOICE November 2014).

[Visited Aug’14] Global Forest Watch (GFW), currently in beta phase, is a dazzling, open data website that aims to monitor deforestation worldwide. With partners like Google, the Jane Goodall Institute, and UNEP (among many others) and “convened by the World Resources Institute,” GFW will impress visitors with its beauty and obvious value. In order to provide “near-real-time” access to information like logging practices, GFW uses satellite images and provides a hub for local communities to upload photos and report illegal deforestation by use of smartphones and GPS mapping. The goal is to track these events as they happen, instead of months or even years later. Unfortunately, it is not possible for all the maps to be updated instantly. Users must agree to a lengthy terms of service agreement before entering the site, ensuring that they understand the limitations of the data presented.

Technology-adept users will find GFW extremely intuitive. Users begin with a 2-D map featuring multiple overlays; displays can be selected from sections such as Forest Change, Forest Cover, Forest Use, and Conservation. Data can be limited by years, ranging from 2001 to 2013. The Countries section contains more in-depth information. The site also features stories about deforestation, a blog prepared by the GFW team, and an alert service. GFW is rightfully confident of its benefits, providing a detailed plan of how the site can be utilized. Significantly, GFW clearly identifies the sources of the information retrieved, supporters of the site, and funding sources. Brief tutorials and FAQs offer additional information. Nearly everyone can find a use for this site and the inestimable data within–whether as a teaching tool or as a primary source for research. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All academic, general, and professional library collections.”

–C. M. Woxland, Utah State University

Copyright 2014 American Library Association

Living Planet Report 2014, from World Wildlife Fund

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Living Planet Report 2014

Source: WWF (World Wildlife Fund)

From The Living Planet Index:

The state of the world’s biodiversity appears worse than ever.
The Living Planet Index (LPI), which measures trends in thousands of vertebrate species populations, shows a decline of 52 per cent between 1970 and 2010 (Figure 2). In other words, the number of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish across the globe is, on average, about half the size it was 40 years ago. This is a much bigger decrease than has been reported previously, as a result of a new methodology which aims to be more representative of global biodiversity.

Biodiversity is declining in both temperate and tropical regions, but the decline is greater in the tropics. The 6,569 populations of 1,606 species in the temperate LPI declined by 36 per cent from 1970 to 2010. The tropical LPI shows a 56 per cent reduction in 3,811 populations of 1,638 species over the same period. Latin America shows the most dramatic decline – a fall of 83 per cent. Habitat loss and degradation, and exploitation through hunting and fishing, are the primary causes of decline. Climate change is the next most common primary threat, and is likely to put more pressure on populations in the future.

+ Links to full report and Summary from this page (PDF; 34.9 MB and 4.9 MB)

From [DocuTicker] Newsletter 294, 7th October 2014

eLIFE — a respected OA journal

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eLIFE

  • http://elifesciences.org“This highly thought of open access journal promises a speed and ease of publishing unheard of in most traditional life science journals. Initial decisions on a manuscript are usually made within days. Post-review decisions are made within weeks. Most articles only go through a single round of revisions. For the reader, this means that the results you’re reading are hot off the lab bench. Best of all, unlike most scientific journals, which can cost upwards of $20 for a single article, the 842 (and counting) articles on this site are completely free. The eLIFE podcast is also available for easy download, online listening, or subscription. [CNH]“
  • Source:  The Scout Report — Volume 20, Number 40 (HTML)  Univ. of Wisconsin, 10/17/2014

World Food Day

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8 Great Scientific Solutions to Feeding the World

Released: 14-Oct-2014 11:00 AM EDT 
Source Newsroom: Institute of Food Technologists (IFT)

Newswise — CHICAGO—In honor of World Food Day on October 16, the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) is highlighting eight solutions for feeding the world from itsFutureFood 2050 website. They include articles featuring Kofi Annan, M.S. Swaminathan, Sylvia Earle and more. Feel free to re-publish or share these links as part of your World Food Day coverage.

1. Watch an interactive video infographic on food waste
2. Learn about food security in Africa 
3. Read this article on M.S. Swaminathan on sustainable agriculture
4. Listen to National Geographic Oceanographer Sylvia Earle share aquaculture solutions 
5. Learn how reinvestment in Africa creates a sustainable business model for the future 
6. Gain insights on the latest insights on meat alternatives 
7. Read an interview on creating greater abundance of crops to feed a booming population 
8. Learn about the important role of women in combating world hunger

“State of the Birds” Report Assesses the Health of the Nation’s Birds

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“State of the Birds” Report Assesses the Health of the Nation’s Birds

One hundred years after the extinction of the passenger pigeon, the nation’s top bird science and conservation groups have come together to publish The State of the Birds 2014—the most comprehensive review of long-term trend data for U.S. birds ever conducted.

  • Video / Image(s) embedded • 

The State of the Birds 2014 report

– Smithsonian Institution

Source: Newswise Environment Wire 26-Sep-2014

sphn-bounces@lists.newswise.com; on behalf of; sphn@lists.newswise.com

U.S. Citizens — Free access to online NTIS reports, Oct. 2014

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NTIS is launching greater access to federally funded science & technology information and reports. Starting in October 2014, U.S. citizens will have free access to all electronically-available documents in the NTIS collection.

Currently there are more than 850,000 documents digitized for free public access. For the first time, Individuals will have the option to subscribe to the NTRL in order to benefit from the Premium features of the database, such as Digitization-on-Demand (NTRL Premium Individual). Premium Institutional subscribers (including corporations) will continue to have access to the more than 2.8 million records with a variety of enhanced features as listed in the chart below.

More at: http://www.ntis.gov/pdf/NTRNews7-3.pdf

National Technical Information Service (NTIS) connects to the database.

Princeton University Library has a subscription to NTRL reports,

(National Technical Reports Library)  and is a founding member…I think.

DataCite & Data Citation Index (Thomson Reuters)

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“ Thomson Reuters and DataCite collaborate to expand discovery of research data –29 Aug 2014

The Intellectual Property & Science business of Thomson Reuters has announced a collaboration with DataCite, a global non-profit organization dedicated to enabling people to find, share, use, and cite data. The collaboration will promote the discovery of research data sets through the Data Citation Index, a single-point solution providing access to quality research data sets from multi-disciplinary repositories around the world.

This collaboration will connect the Data Citation Index to high quality research data from repositories worldwide that work with DataCite. This will ensure that the valuable content that has been made citable by DataCite is globally discoverable, properly attributed and reusable by other researchers. As part of the Web of Science – the premier scientific search and discovery platform and industry authority in science, social science, and arts & humanities citation indexes – inclusion within the Data Citation Index will also further DataCite’s mission of increasing acceptance of research data as citable contributions to the scholarly record.

Since creating the Data Citation Index, Thomson Reuters has worked closely with global industry leaders to expand the breadth of research discovery by capturing bibliographic records and cited references for digital research, as well as literature describing research which cites or uses the data, stewarding the accurate identification, attribution and measurement of this growing body of scholarship. The Data Citation Index allows users to gain a comprehensive view of the genesis of research projects and influence the future paths they may take, while minimizing the duplication of work and speeding the scientific research process to keep pace with the changing global research landscape. Through linked content and summary information, this data is displayed within the broader context of the scholarly research ecosystem, enabling users to gain perspective that otherwise would be lost if viewed in isolation.”

Source:  Knowledgespeak Newsletter

bioRxiv (beta) Biology Preprint Server

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bioRxiv beta The Preprint Server for Biology graphic

A not-for-profit bioscience information service,
from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Watch the video here

  • Submit a paper and within 24 hours anyone can read and cite it, without waiting months until it’s reviewed
  • Free for authors, free for readers
  • Share your paper with other scientists without having to wait months before it’s reviewed
  • Get feedback on your paper before submitting it to a journal
    (more and more journals accept submissions that have appeared onbioRxiv)

bioRxiv contains hundreds of papers that present new, confirmatory, or contradictory findings

Biochemistry
Bioengineering
Bioinformatics
Biophysics
Cancer Biology
Cell Biology
Developmental Biology
Ecology
Evolutionary Biology
Genetics
Genomics
Immunology
Microbiology
Molecular Biology
Molecular Medicine
Neuroscience
Paleontology
Pathology
Pharmacology
Physiology
Plant Biology
Scientific
Communication
Synthetic Biology
Systems Biology
Zoology

More details, including submission instructions, at
bioRxiv.org

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory graphic

Earth Day videos — on Water & our Changing Planet

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Celebrate Earth Day with Changing Planet and Sustainability: Water

In preparation for Earth Day on April 22, explore NBC Learn’s Original Collections Changing Planet and Sustainability: Water. These earth science series, produced in partnership with the National Science Foundation, cover headline issues from the future of California’s water supply to how butterflies are adapting to warmer temperatures. Use these videos to engage and involve your students in the environmental issues in the news today.

Changing Planet             Sustainability: Water

K-12 | HigherEd               K-12 | HigherEd

Source:  NBC Learn April 2014 Newsletter

One can sign up for a free trial.