Category Archives: STEM Web Resources

BioOne — adding 7 titles, but after 12/2015 ceasing to contain Entomological Soc. of Am. & Am. Soc. of Mammalogists publications

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” BioOne adds seven new journals to BioOne Complete – 04 Sep 2015

BioOne, a nonprofit publisher that aims to make scientific research more accessible, has added seven new journals to BioOne Complete, its online aggregation of independently-published, subscribed and open-access titles.

Joining the subscribed aggregation in January 2016 will be: Caribbean Journal of Science, published by the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez; Journal of Entomological Science, published by the Georgia Entomological Society; Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society, published by The Lepidopterists’ Society; and Systematic and Applied Acarology, published by the Systematic and Applied Acarology Society (UK). Joining BioOne Complete as open-access participants will be: Paleontological Contributions, published by The Paleontological Institute at The University of Kansas; and Palaeodiversity and Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde A, both published by The Stuttgart State Museum of Natural History, Germany.

These titles represent a wealth of content in biodiversity conservation, entomology, paleontology, and natural history. Their collective backfile encompasses 48 years and over 12,000 new pages for BioOne Complete. In 2016, the aggregation will be home to 191 publications (130 current, 43 backfile-only, and 18 open-access titles), comprising over 1.2 million pages and growing daily. 78% of BioOne Complete’s subscribed titles are ranked in Thomson Reuters’ Journal Citation Reports, and 25% are based outside of the US. Furthermore, 73% of current titles are available in full-text XML exclusively through BioOne Complete.

Just as these new additions enhance a subscription to BioOne Complete, BioOne participation represents a key step forward for each of these nonprofit publishers to make their content more accessible to a global audience.

As of December 31, 2015, the publications of the Entomological Society of America and the American Society of Mammalogists will cease adding new content to BioOne Complete. In accordance with BioOne’s commitment to perpetual access, all previously deposited issues from 2000-2015 (sixteen years of content), will remain accessible to BioOne Complete subscribers in perpetuity.”

Source:  Knowledgespeak Newsletter, 9/4/2015

How many chemical substances are there? 100,000,000 (in CAS Registry)

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US Chemical Abstracts Service registers 100 millionth chemical substance in CAS REGISTRY – 30 Jun 2015

Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS), the world’s authority for chemical information, has registered the 100 millionth chemical substance in the CAS REGISTRY, in the 50th anniversary year of the world’s largest database of unique chemical substances.

With a steady increase in patenting activity around the globe, it is not surprising the 100 millionth small molecule registration comes from a patent. In this case, the substance was reported in a World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) patent from Coferon, Inc. (Coferon) in Stony Brook, NY. The inventors claim the molecule, CAS RN 1786400-23-4, available in both SciFinder® and STN®, is a novel therapeutic designed to treat acute myeloid leukemia.

Started in 1965 as a project to uniquely identify and track chemical substance information, the CAS Registry system is the only complete and accurate source of unique identifiers, known as CAS Registry Numbers for all organic and inorganic substances disclosed in scientific publications and other reputable sources. Today, scientists, intellectual property professionals and compliance specialists around the world rely on CAS Registry Numbers to instantaneously identify and access the exact chemical needed for their research, safety and compliance needs.

The invention of CAS REGISTRY revolutionized the chemical information field and transformed research since the mid 60’s, and CAS Registry Numbers are ubiquitous in mainstream society today. Global regulatory organisations, including the United States Environmental Protection Agency and The ACT on the Registration and Evaluation of Chemicals regulatory body in Korea, require all new chemical substances manufactured or imported to be identified by a CAS Registry Number. These are also used on Materials Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) around the world as a reliable resource for safe handling and transport of chemicals. CAS Registry Numbers are found on consumer products we use, e.g., paint cans and shampoo labels, and are relied upon in numerous web information sources, including chemical suppliers sites, Wikipedia, PubChem, and ChemSpider, to provide the one unique key that can open the world of information about that substance.

The substantial growth in worldwide chemical discoveries over the past 10 years is reflected in CAS REGISTRY. A view of all substances added since 1965 shows that the pace of research has significantly accelerated in the past ten years. Of the 100 million substances in CAS REGISTRY, approximately 75 million were added over the past 10 years. On average, CAS has registered 1 substance every 2.5 minutes over the past 50 years.
Source:  Knowledgespeak Newsletter 6/30/2015
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The Plant List

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  • http://www.theplantlist.org/

    “As the website rather modestly states, The Plant List is “a working list of all known plant species.” In other words, botanically inspired readers will find on this site basic information about 1,293,685 (and counting) different plants. Readers may like to begin with How to use this site, a comprehensive section that describes how to search The Plant List, when it is useful or not useful to conduct a search, when it is more helpful to browse, and other tips and tidbits. After getting their bearings, readers may then want to delve into the list itself. For instance, the Browse tab allows readers to look into the four major groups (flowering plants, conifers, ferns, and mosses), and then dig down into family, genera, and species. For science teachers looking for new resources to offer their students, or for anyone fascinated by plants, this collaboration between the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, and the Missouri Botanical Garden is a truly comprehensive resource. [CNH]”

  • Source: The Scout Report — Volume 21, Number 32 (HTML), Aug. 21, 2015

Environmental and Public Health Indicators — database from EPA

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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released updated environmental and public health indicators and made them available in an online database. “This is an online update to EPA’s Report on the Environment. Users can explore 85 individual indicators– on our air, water, land, human exposure, health and ecological condition– using interactive graphs, tables, and maps, and download the data for each indicator.”

Source:  ResearchBuzz by Tara Calishain, July 21, 2015

New York Panel on Climate Change 2015

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  • http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nyas.2015.1336.issue-1/issuetoc“With the bulk of scientific articles and reports placed behind a paywall, it’s always a welcome gift when good research is made available for free. This report on the New York Panel on Climate Change 2015 is loaded with excellent information – and it’s free and available to anyone with an Internet connection. As the introduction to the report notes, “The climate of the New York City metropolitan region is changing – annual temperatures are hotter, heavy downpours are increasingly frequent, and the sea is rising.” The rest of the report includes a knowledgeable forward by Mayor Bill de Blasio, an executive summary on the findings of the panel, an article outlining the panel’s climate observations and projections, and chapters on sea level rise, coastal storms, coastal flooding, public health impacts, and conclusions and recommendations. For inspired readers, there are also appendices to the report that feature infographics and technical details.” [CNH]
  • Source:  Scout Report, Univ. Wisc., July 17, 2015   (Vol. 21 no. 27)

Astrophysicists offer proof that famous image shows forming planets

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“This image sparked scientific debate when it was released last year, with researchers arguing over whether newly forming planets were responsible for gaps in the dust and gas swirling around the young star.”
Credit: Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)
“University of Toronto, May 5, 2015.  Summary: A recent and famous image from deep space marks the first time we’ve seen a forming planetary system, according to a study by astrophysicists. The team found that circular gaps in a disk of dust and gas swirling around the young star HL Tau are in fact made by forming planets.”
Daniel Tamayo, Amaury H. M. J. Triaud, Kristen Menou, Hanno Rein. Dynamical Stability of Imaged Planetary Systems in Formation: Application to HL Tau. Astrophysical Journal, 2015 [link]
University of Toronto. “Astrophysicists offer proof that famous image shows forming planets.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 5 May 2015.
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150505142526.htm.

Conversations in Genetics History

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Oral History of Genetics Now Available Online

“The Genetics Society of America (GSA) and Executive Producer Rochelle Easton Esposito, PhD, are pleased to announce that Conversations in Genetics, an oral history of our intellectual heritage in genetics, is now available for free online viewing at http://www.genestory.org/.”

Source:  Newswise SciWire for 30-Apr-2015

Other interviewees to come:  King, Cavalli-Sforza, Meyerowitz, Horowitz

National Science Foundation YouTube Channel

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“National Science Foundation YouTube Channel

  • https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRuCgmzhczsm89jzPtN2Wuw

    Nearly 13,000 viewers have subscribed to the National Science Foundation’s YouTube channel. It’s not a secret why. These well-produced and often poignant presentations have managed to pack so much into such a small space. Nearly all the videos clock in at less than four minutes. Many of the clips are just two or three minutes long so readers can easily learn about the birth of planets, the details of the tropospheric ozone, and the wonders of biomedical engineering – all within the timespan of a quick coffee break. The hundreds of available videos are broken into categories such as Computer Science, Brain Research, and Education, among others. Whether you are looking for an interesting tidbit to add to your lecture on Geoscience or you are simply curious about conservation efforts in Central Africa, there is much to enjoy here. [CNH]“

  • Source:  Scout Report, University of Wisconsin, Mar. 27, 2015, Vol. 21(12)

Center for the Advancement of Science in Space — website

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“The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space

  • http://www.iss-casis.org/

    The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) is a non-profit organization that was founded in 2011 to manage the International Space Station. In addition to making access to the station faster and easier, connecting funders to scientists, and making research accessible to the public, CASIS hosts an excellent website packed with information about the space station. Readers may view the short videos on the homepage for more information on the projects CASIS sponsors, or peruse articles under the News & Events tab. Perhaps the most interesting part of the site, however, are the three tabs set aside for researchers, businesses, and educators. In fact, the For Educators tab is especially helpful, as it features Lesson Plans on topics such as “The Laws of Newton” and “Tracking Satellites,” a Q&A section, and Additional Resources for teachers. [CNH]“

  • Source:  Scout Report, Univ. of Wisconsin, March 27, 2015, Vol. 21(12)

Viruses: Timeline, Structure, Biology

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From Genetic Engineering &  Biotechnology News (GEN), March 15, 2015

URL:virologyhistory.wustl.edu/index.htm

“Sure, the year 1941 may best be remembered for being the year of the attack on Pearl Harbor, but it was also the year in which X-ray diffraction patterns were obtained for the tomato bushy stunt virus (TBSV) and tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). You can find this and other world history/structural biology history side-by-side comparisons in the nifty timeline feature on the Viruses: From Structure to Biology website. This site—the creation of Sondra and Milton Schlesinger at Washington University School of Medicine —provides some nice background on key milestones in structural virology and the resulting biological breakthroughs in the field. There isn’t a ton of information on the site—one might call it a single-serving website—but within that serving you’ll be able to chew on some interesting science history.”