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It wasn't a headline in any of today's pop culture-focused media, but a momentous biological event recently occurred—the 12,000th ant species was reported. Though this might be viewed alternately as terrible or wonderful news, depending on whether you are a picnicker or a researcher of the family Formicidae, everyone interested in or concerned about these crawlers will find something to “chew on” at Antbase.org. The offerings are numerous, from a database on ground-living ants to another organized by geographic distribution. Researchers will welcome the extensive FORMIS literature collection, with over 30,000 references, and the list of the World's Ant Taxonomists (complete with contact information) is sure to keep everyone in touch. If Antbase doesn't contain all you require, then the Antlinks section, with connections to the rest of the Ant web will likely be of help.
In Your BloodWhat does it take for a cell to become a blood cell? A few globin proteins? A couple of heme molecules? You might be surprised. The answers to these questions and others regarding blood cells can be obtained by retrieving blood-specific genes from the NIH-supported Hembase site. A unique organization system arranged around the 22 autosomes and two sex chromosomes of humans directs visitors quickly to information. A search engine can also retrieve desired content by ID number, keyword, or cell topic (i.e., Blood Groups, Cytoskeleton, Heme Synthesis, Hemoglobin, or Hemolysis-Related Enzymes).
Intelligent DesignTwenty years ago, researchers could consider themselves genetic engineers if they were simply able to move a gene across a species or alter the coding for a protein. That was then, this is now. In the 21st century, the bar is much higher. If you've been out of the loop for the past decade or so, glimpse of what modern genetic engineering constitutes is on display at the Synthetic Biology site, where visitors will discover that “playing God” with microbes is not just the realm of science fiction, but a very real, ongoing endeavor. Begun originally by researchers at MIT and Harvard, SyntheticBiology.org hopes to identify a standard set of functional parts that can be used to build biological systems and from there, the researchers aim, ultimately, to design a simple bacterium. Anyone interested in the effort is encouraged to get an account and participate through OpenNetWare.
Join the Marines
If there is a biosphere on earth that doesn't need a web site to inspire visitors, it is probably the ocean. That Marinebio.org is able to do so is definitely to its credit. Aimed at stimulating research, education, and development of a “sea ethic,” the Marinebio designers provide content educational spanning territory as expansive as the oceans themselves. To start with, there's the online library of endangered species, content focusing on sustainable seas, sections dealing with current research/news, and forums for scientists to exchange information and communicate with each other. Should your interests be deeper, the sections entitled Get Involved, Education/Careers, and Explore/Discover provide numerous ways to dive in and join the fun.
Larval MarvelIs there a more hazardous phase of a life cycle in biology than that of a fish larva? With virtually nothing to protect them from predators and (in some cases) cannibalistic parents, it's not much fun growing up to become a fish. Exploring the world of larvae is LarvalBase that blends standard fare (search engine with info on over 2200 species), educational content (Water Advisor), and downloads (documents and presentations) to create a site that will attract researchers like a bass to a lure. The photo archive's beautiful images alone are worth a look.
