NETSURFER LINKS
REVIEWERS' CHOICE
EARTH SYSTEMS
COMPUTING AND ENGINEERING
ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
MATHEMATICS, PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY
ARCHEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY
MEDICINE, BIOLOGY AND ZOOLOGY
ANTHROPOLOGY, SOCIOLOGY, ECONOMICS, AND GEOGRAPHY
SCIENCE AND ART
SCIENCE LITE
RESIDUE
OTHER LINKS
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REVIEWERS' CHOICE
Is there a Mrs. Swamp Thing?
Airplane Design Demo
Here at Netsurfer HQ you just never know what you'll be called on to do.
Write a review of a great Web site for NSE readers? Coming up! Recommend a
book or computer game? Right away! Design a 200-passenger jet? We're on it!
Judging by past episodes with paper airplanes, we've always fancied
ourselves as aeronautical engineers, so it was time to put that thwarted
ambition to the test. To do that, we tried our hand at Desktop Aeronautics'
Java-based demo of their airplane design workshop. The challenge was to
select an appropriate wing type, area, engine type and thrust, tail design,
cabin layout, fuel load, speed and altitude for a 200-passenger airliner.
Eventually, we made it from Washington DC to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada but
we just aren't going to tell anyone ever how many times we saw the dreaded
notice, "There are some problems" before we finally succeeded. If you're
really serious about this stuff you can purchase the complete software
package for $295 (Mac OS only at the moment). Otherwise, why not try your
hand at this amusing free demo.
http://www.desktopaero.com/demos.html
EARTH SYSTEMS
No matter where you go, there you are
Plate Tectonic Reconstruction
A cool visual reference tool to plot the course of continental drift on the
planet over the last 150 million years, the Ocean Drilling Stratigraphic
Network's Plate Tectonic Reconstruction Service uses interactive mapping
software to show the movements of the plates that make up Earth's crust over
time and the historic hot spots associated with plate tectonics at any given
time. The mapping software itself, while somewhat complex - we strongly
recommend that users avail themselves of the manual - is extremely flexible,
allowing a plethora of views, projections, colorings, grid references, and
so on. The site also boasts a small (330kb) animation of the
150-million-year-old migration of Earth's plates. Serious students should
consult the reference information to learn how the maps are calculated and
what data are used. A worthy endeavor and a fine aid for geology students
and buffs.
http://www.odsn.de/odsn/services/paleomap/paleomap.html
COMPUTING AND ENGINEERING
Open the pod bay doors, Hal
Linen
Jennifer Munson is a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, the
international organization dedicated to researching and re-creating life
before the 17th century in Europe. No one on the Netsurfer Science roster
will own up to attending a Renaissance fair, but we'll readily agree that
research done by the society's members is often the best or most accessible
information available on some of the most arcane subjects on the Internet.
Jennifer, known as Mistress Anne Liese Wolkenhaar among creative
anachronists, is a textile specialist with much to say on the subject of
flax, linen, and weaving, among other things. Check the fiber section of her
menu. Even natural fibers, naturally processed, can have deleterious effects
on the environment, as the Nidderdale page reveals. The Flax and Linen page
offers edifying illustrations and more hard science on the subject.
Mistress Anne Liese:
http://www.geocities.com/anne_liese_w/index.html
Nidderdale:
http://www.nidderdale.org/History/Flax/Processing%20Flax.htm
Flax/Linen:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~belghist/Flanders/Pages/flaxLinen.htm
SCA:
http://www.sca.org/
Silk
So, we know generally that silk is the processed from silk worms. Beyond
that fact and mumbling something about mulberry leaves, how many of us can
really detail anything about silk production? As is so often the case, no
single site offers a complete picture, but together these sites fill in a
lot of the blanks. It takes three days for that moth larva to spin a cocoon,
three days spent turning in tiny circles, reeling as much as 1200 yards of
silk from a spinneret under its lower lip. Cheryl Kolander's Aurora site
advises readers raising their own silkworms. Consider, though, that she
estimates you'll need nine mulberry trees to feed sufficient worms to
produce a pound of silk. From the Cappadocia site, we learn that the worm
spins in a figure 8. As a result, cutting the cocoon at the end would shear
that single thread into tiny lengths. The best spinners are selected to
survive their metamorphosis to reproduce. The rest die in vats of boiling
water that begin the human production process in deadly earnest.
Aurora:
http://www.aurorasilk.com/raisesilk/index.shtml
Cappadocia:
http://www.rdricketts.com/worm.html
Cotton
The Silk Road changed the shape of the world and centuries later cotton
changed forever the character of the United States. The significance of
cotton production lies not so much in the process itself but in the events
that flowed from changes in the process. Eli Whitney's cotton gin
transformed antebellum America in which even slave labor was insufficient to
yield much profit for inland cotton farms. The Eli Whitney Museum explains
why the gin was so important and how its simple design worked, and tells the
tale of the first rumblings of the Industrial Age in America. Whitney, so
inextricably associated with the cotton gin, had ambitions for mass
production that predated Henry Ford by almost a century. Less critical to
success, but certainly welcome, innovations continue to this day, as the US
Agricultural Research Service tells us. Cotton Australia puts forward a
dandy collection of pages about production from seed to jeans. Be especially
sure to check out the first-rate Education Kit.
Museum:
http://www.eliwhitney.org/main.htm
ARS:
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/timeline/cotton.htm
Cotton Australia:
http://www.cottonaustralia.com.au/aboutindex.html
Wool
Despite how generally familiar we are with the story of wool, the American
Wool Council still manages to slip in a few new nuggets of new information.
On average, the sheared fleece of a sheep, removed in a single piece, weighs
about 10 lbs. Worsted wool comes from fleece that is longer than 3 inches.
Shorter fleece is generally used in bulky sweaters or carpets. An
observation: We suspect that the last two items in the processing menu have
been switched; the reverse chronology makes more sense. New Zealand's Sheep
& Wool site speaks to more technical concerns, particularly in matters of
grading wool or certifying wool professionals. In optimal conditions, a
trained and experienced - and, no doubt, fit - shearer can strip as many as
300 sheep in a day. The Bah, Bah, Black Sheep pages go so far as to describe
the shearing process step by step, directing readers who'd like to pursue
shearing as a career to the Oster School.
Wool Council:
http://www.sheepusa.org/wool/genwool.html
Sheep & Wool:
http://www.woolpro.co.nz/sheep_wool/sheep_wool.html
Bah, Bah:
http://ag.ansc.purdue.edu/sheep/ansc442/Semprojs/wool/index.htm
ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away
Earth and Sky in Audio
Earth and Sky is a daily science radio show. You can also listen to the
show on the Net, as well as read transcripts of past shows and cool
articles about fascinating science topics. Articles range from an in
depth look at the Piltdown Man hoax to a look at Monarch Butterflies.
And that's just the 'Earth' section. As for the sky, check out 'Tonight's
Sky' for something interesting to see up there each night, or read
one of the fine articles dealing with many aspects of astronomy. If
this inspires you to go out in the back yard to look at the stars
tonight, make sure you consult the 'Starcast' for viewing conditions
around the US.
http://www.earthsky.org/
Laying the Groundwork for the Universe
This site is part of the NASA stable of space-oriented Web pages. In case
you're wondering, the site makes no attempt to explain the structure and
evolution of the universe, but instead provides an array of information
about how scientists are going about figuring out how they might learn
enough to be able to one day. One of NASA's four themes, the topic comprises
three quests, and six campaigns, and the site provides scads of info about
the space missions past and future related to them. In the galleries section
are images, videos, screensavers and presentations. What's New provides the
latest news and press releases. The Roadmap actually has two: a science map
and a technology map, each of which has enough information for more than one
rainy day, organized into what look like images of poster sessions. And like
most places associated with NASA, there is virtually no end to this
resource; it just keeps on expanding as you click, leading you where you
will with its almost infinite array of information, pictures, and news.
http://universe.gsfc.nasa.gov/
MATHEMATICS, PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY
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Bullets in Flight
In many ways, series like Law & Order and CSI make it too easy. They speak
most often of matching the markings on bullets against the gun that fired
them. They seldom deal, however, with why the evidence bears such marks at
all. An archer might have the answer or, perhaps, a Monday morning
quarterback. To wit: A projectile spinning around its axis travels its path
more stably. In fact, a projectile fired minus the spin is likely to tumble.
You've probably witnessed the effect yourself some Sunday afternoon as your
hometown quarterback tossed one of those dismally lifeless passes. For the
same reason, the fletching (the feathers) on arrows cant slightly, causing
the arrow to rotate in flight. More, spinning minimizes the destabilizing
effect of the asymmetry on the point of a broadhead arrow. Similarly, the
markings in the bore of a gun start the bullet's rotation. Read how spin is
a necessary element in the flight of all manner of projectiles.
Bullets:
http://www.nennstiel-ruprecht.de/bullfly/index.htm
Footballs:
http://www.edwardwillett.com/Columns/football.htm
Arrows:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/joetapley/fspin.htm
Aerospace football:
http://www.cyberstuff.net/UCLA/Winter2002/Research/physics_of_football.htm
ARCHEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY
What is past is prologue
Plants Older Than History
Although dinosaur-diggers get all the press, to really understand
conditions in the prehistoric world, you need a paleobotanist. While
animals move around, or even migrate, plants are more directly
dependent on climate and soil and so their fossils tell us much about
the ancient landscape. The featured link at the Web site of the
Paleobotanical Research Group (RSG) at the University of Munster in
Germany is A History of Paleozoic Forests, an illustrated article with
hyperlinked terms, concepts, and taxons that records the development
and diffusion of forests in the early and coal-forming eras in North
America and Europe (which were united at the time at the equator) until
the mass extinction (95% of all plant and animal species, 50% of all
genera) at the end of the Permian. In addition to copious illustrations
of fossil plants, the article is linked to paleogeological maps and
globes to show the positions of the continents and the geological
conditions of the time. Other items of interest include notes on
current research at the RSG, recent paleobotanical publications and
textbooks, and an annotated links list of online courses and texts,
museums and university departments, databases, and even other links
lists. For a somewhat briefer summary, Hans' Paleobotany Pages is a
good introduction to the first land plants for the non-expert with
clickably enlargeable illustrations.
Paleozoic forests:
http://www.uni-muenster.de/GeoPalaeontologie/Palaeo/Palbot/ebot.html
Hans' paleobotany:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~steurh/home.html
Netsurfer Recommendations
Items our staff likes and you might too. Click on the cover or title to order
the item at a hefty discount from Amazon.com and Beyond.com and send a few
pennies our way as well.
Journey from the Center of the Sun.
Jack B. Zirker
Princeton Univ Pr; ISBN: 0691057818
Given that the Sun is such an important part of all our lives it is
surprisingly difficult to find a good scientifically up-to-date account
of exactly how our Sun works. Fortunately this splendid little book
fills that void admirably. Jack Zirker takes us on an imaginary voyage
from the center of the Sun to its surface describing in some detail the
environment we find on the way. He traces the origin of sunlight in the
complex physical reactions of the Sun's various layers and follows the
flow of energy until it escapes our Solar System in a wind of particles
heading out for interstellar space. The book winds up with a comparison
between the Sun and other stars. The book is clearly written, well
organized, filled with helpful diagrams, and based on the latest solar
research. Overall this is first class popular science writing and
we're happy to give this book some well deserved exposure. Check it
out and pass the word.
The Demon in the Freezer: A True Story
Richard Preston
Random House; ISBN: 0375508562
One of the great medical accomplishments of the 20th century was the
eradication of smallpox. The virulent disease ravaged populations until
the 1960's when an aggressive worldwide effort to vaccinate the
population was initiated. By 1977 the last verified case of smallpox
occurred in Somalia, and since then by international treaty there were
supposed to be only two repositories of the smallpox virus in the US
and Russia. However Preston makes the case that several other nations
may have samples which are being used for bio-weapon research, a claim
reinforced by recent media reports which allege the same thing.
Preston's book also goes into the possible effects of a smallpox
terrorist attack taking as its point of departure the post-9/11 anthrax
attacks in the US. It's a compelling look at a very scary subject by an
author who does not sensationalize the very real danger. Preston is
also the author of
The Hot Zone, a best selling account of an Ebola outbreak in a
suburban Washington, D.C. laboratory.
Entanglement: The Greatest Mystery in Physics
Amir D. Aczel
Four Walls Eight Windows; ISBN: 1568582323
Quantum mechanics is inherently spooky and odd to human minds which
evolved in the relatively predictable world of every day physics.
Entanglement is arguably one of the more mysterious phenomenon of the
quantum world. You can separate two entangled quantum systems by a
great distance and changes in one will be reflected in the other
seemingly in violation of that other bedrock of physics, the theory of
relativity. The experimentally well verified phenomenon of entanglement
poses a difficult theoretical puzzle for physicists touching on the
very fabric of reality. This very accessible book is a great
introduction to the mysterious subject for the general science reader
interested in cutting edge physics research which sometimes even seems
to bleed over into philosophy.
Mapping Mars
Oliver Morton
Picador USA; ISBN: 0312245513
Mars has always had a certain romantic aura in human affairs, all the
way from its status as the God of War in ancient times, through the
enigma of its wonderfully imaginary canals, all the way to its
tantalizing possibilities of harboring life. This book is firmly in the
romantic admiration camp, but firmly grounded in hard science. In some
ways the title of this book is misleading. This is not only the story
of making physical maps of the planet, but of investigating all its
myriad facets, such as landscape, geology, atmosphere, chemistry. It is
a story of human discovery of a complex planet, of mapping it in the
larger sense, a story which is still unfolding.
For more selections, check out the Netsurfer Library at
http://www.netsurf.com/nsl/
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MEDICINE, BIOLOGY AND ZOOLOGY
It's alive! It's alive!
Anesthesia in Exotic Animals
Veterinarians have a tough job. Sure, the family pooch can give the doc a
bit of trouble, but what does she do when the local zoo calls to tell her
that its prized, endangered, Greater Latvian Whooping Stork has swallowed a
balloon and may have a blocked intestine? How does she go about capturing,
anaesthetizing, and preparing it for surgery? Christian J. Wenker, doctor of
veterinary medicine at the Clinic for Exotic Pets and Zoo Animals at the
University of Zurich, has practical experience that may render the solution.
Dr. Wenker explains the proper procedure for using a blowpipe to administer
anesthetics from a safe distance. Once sedated, the animal will have to be
kept knocked out with the use of inhalants, so Dr. Wenker considers the
various types of drugs along with their potential side effects. Delivery of
such inhalants is also examined, because you can't exactly fit a facemask
over an elephant or a python. (NSS editor chimes in: Anesthesia is a tricky
business even with animals that aren't so exotic. When NSS mega-mascot and
Irish wolfhound, Gryphon - tipping the scales at 180 lb. and standing more
than 4' tall at the crest of his brow - required surgery, a veterinary
specialist undertook the anesthesia. Not only does the breed have known and
potentially fatal sensitivities to anesthetics, but the dog's size puts it
at increasingly greater risk the longer the surgery lasts.)
http://www.ispub.com/journals/IJA/Vol2N3/zoo.htm
ANTHROPOLOGY, SOCIOLOGY, ECONOMICS, AND GEOGRAPHY
All that we see or seem
Why Civilizations Collapse
The Annenberg/CPB Project has crafted a wonderful interactive site
exploring the world's great civilizations as they plunged to their
nadir: Mesopotamia, Egypt, The Maya in Copan, the medieval west African
kingdoms Mali and Songhai. Learn archaeological techniques for
assembling clues about famine, political strife, and natural disaster.
And see how history repeats itself; Mesopotamia's rich farmland failed
because irrigation water poisoned the soil with salt deposits. The same
thing is happening right now in California's San Joaquin Valley. The
site lets you take your own notes in a journal, then piece them
together at the end of your site tour to formulate conclusions about
why civilizations fall.
http://www.learner.org/exhibits/collapse/
The Vatican and the Renaissance - Library of Congress Exhibit
The Vatican Library has been a vital repository for western culture
since it was set up in the 15th century. Oh, it's had its ups and
downs - the occasional repressive book banning policy, stretches where
it wasn't maintained well enough to be of much use to scholars - but
overall, it ranks up there with Alexandria and America's prodigious
Library of Congress, which sponsors this online exhibit. By no means
limited to bibles and canon law, "Rome Reborn: The Vatican Library and
Renaissance Culture" offers (9) sections: The Vatican Library,
Archaeology, Humanism, Mathematics, Music, Medicine & Biology, Nature
Described, A Wider World I: How the Orient Came to Rome, and A Wider
World II: How Rome Went to China.
http://metalab.unc.edu/expo/vatican.exhibit/exhibit/Main_Hall.html
Population Dynamics and Malthus
The outcome of populations - human or otherwise - outstripping
resources is misery, Thomas Robert Malthus pointed out over two hundred
years ago in his An Essay on the Principle of Population. Thanks to the
green revolution and other modern technologies, the world has done
better than expected to dodge the bullets of war, disease, famine and
poverty, but this site reminds us that the laws he discovered apply
nonetheless. This place explains how scarcity creates conflict and
discusses current and likely future implications. This is serious sober
stuff which is worth while if worrying reading.
http://www.igc.apc.org/desip/malthus/index.html
Gothic Cathedrals
A sense of timelessness, distant mysterious echoes, light streaming
from high stained glass windows - all these and more are evoked by this
site, which invites you to be patient, curious, open and receptive, to
"set out upon your own pilgrimage of self exploration!". Awesome,
overwhelming, mysterious, cathedrals seem to defy time, and are like
amplifiers for the spiritual. Several different approaches to
cathedrals are provided as well as a very worthy Gothic/medieval Links
of Merit & Distinction. The pictures are stunning and the writing
perfectly matched to the subject. This is like having a big one plunked
down right in your own back yard for your private exploration!
Magnificent, magical, marvelous!
http://elore.com/elore04.html
SCIENCE AND ART
Puttin' on the Ritz
Lying Eyes of Trompe l'Oeil
A single page at ArtAsk delivers an intriguing perspective on the way
that artists induce us to surrender to their painting. The science of
how trompe l'oeil works is covered in the first paragraph and, oddly
satisfyingly in short biography of Peto, an artist whose work is
generally felt to fall short of the best trompe l'oeil. Latter day
artists who use this technique have abandoned some of the practices
that make it work best, especially the choice of small, familiar
still-life subjects. We can understand why the smaller subjects work so
well. Even in pixels, reduced in size, it's hard not to be taken in by
the samples of works reproduced on the page. The small subjects may
have a sense of whimsy, of the familiar, but their lie is dead serious.
The larger objects, like the open window, seem to acknowledge the lie.
We prefer trompe l'oeil that doesn't wink back.
http://www.askart.com/Interest/TrompePainting_a.asp
The Big Drip
We'll make no judgement about the authenticity of the story you'll read
at Teri's Find. There are a lot of aggrieved people, justified and
otherwise, who've taken their cases online. What's interesting is the
account of the forensic expert trying to determine the authenticity of
what may be a lost Jackson Pollock, bought for $5 at a roadside stand
and worth perhaps more than $11 million if it's the real McCoy. Here
electron microscopy coalesces with more purely visceral judgements
about style to form opinion. We hope that both the story and the
opinion are true.
http://www.birofineartrestoration.com/Pollock/Pollock.htm
SCIENCE LITE
Where are you, Mulder?
Phunny Physics
"Any body suspended in space will remain in space until made aware of
its situation." Makes perfect sense to us. Frankly this is how the
universe should work, how the void ought to have spawned the place 15
billion or so years ago, rather than settling for boring old physics as
we know it. Rats! "Any violent rearrangement of feline matter is
impermanent" also is immensely preferable to the present way things
work with cats. It's not quite evident just who is responsible for this
amusing alternative view of reality, but we like it. After all it seems
clear to us that "Everything falls faster than an anvil" is immensely
preferable to what Galileo decided was the case. Just think if reality
were the comics. Beep beep!
http://funnies.paco.to/cartoon.html
RESIDUE
We can't be sure what else is out there
The Art and Science of Fly Fishing
Here's a fascinating site, both for its content and its intent. On his
international pages (he doesn't seem much interested in being pinned
down), fly fishing instructor Paul Arden experiments with teaching what
seems unteachable over the Internet. He's working in person in
Australia with photographer Karen, a novice, to turn her into a
competent or even expert fly fisher. As he teaches, he transforms those
live lessons into written instruction. Meanwhile, in France, online
pupil Steve, also a fly fishing novitiate, learns the sport through
Paul's pages, augmented by e-mail. Arden, a professional instructor,
doesn't stint in his content. He reveals all, from the reasons that dry
fishing is preferable for some species to a crystal clear explanation
for the length of a fly fisher's loose line. "As the loop unfurls it is
important that it loses energy, so that the fly lands gently and not
with a dramatic splash." We learned a lot here about how science, art,
and leisure intersect, not the least because Arden is a gifted
proselytizer for his sport.
http://www.sexyloops.co.uk/index.shtml
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