Gone but Not Forgotten

They've been extinct for 65 million years, wiped out by a cataclysmic event postulated variously as asteroid bombardment, massive volcanic eruptions, or just climate change. Gary Larson, in a famous Far Side cartoon, once suggested that cigarette smoking was the real cause of their disappearance. The objects of this interest, the dinosaurs, live on today, in the book/movie Jurassic Park and, most recently, through the discovery and characterization of soft tissue from a fossil, from which the protein collagen was isolated. At Dinobase, hosted by the University of Bristol, you'll see perspectives of dinosaurs spanning all ranges of expertise, from that of children (Dinokids), to those of research scientists. You can also tiptoe into the controversy of whether birds are the modern day offspring of these ancient creatures.

@ dinobase.gly.bris.ac.uk

Floral Fawning

From the enormous stinking corpse blossoms of Rafflesia arnoldii to the microscopic blooms of the Lemnaceae family, plant genitalia, otherwise known as flowers, display an amazing diversity of sizes, shapes, and smells. Often these characteristics are aimed at attracting insects to do the “heavy lifting” of spreading seed and pollination. Deriving a better understanding of the evolutionary, economic, and agricultural importance of flowers is the aim of the Floral Genome Project, which its Web site tackles by providing methods, information on cDNA libraries, relevant publications, and much more.

@ depcla4.bio.psu.edu

E-cell-ence

Silicon-based life forms are the stuff of science fiction writers today, but if the members of the E-Cell Project get their way, they may literally spring to life, at least in the heart of a computer. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, they say, so what better to model in silico than carbon-based life? So goes the thinking of the designers of this interesting Web-based endeavor, which aims to reconstruct biological phenomena and develop technologies to precisely simulate whole cells. The holy grail of computational biology, life modeling has made enormous strides over the years, thanks to advances in computation and our evolving understanding of what makes cells tick. If you're a programmer, you are invited to participate in the effort and, who knows, maybe eventually evolve a new life form.

@ www.e-cell.org

Itty Bitty Committee

An encompassing term whose meaning varies widely, nanotechnology literally refers to tools on the scale of <100 nm for the creation and use of structures/systems with useful properties. Nanotech, as it is commonly known, is making significant impacts on the disciplines of electronics, fluidics, and biology, so, needless to say, an understanding of these technologies is increasingly important. To the rescue comes Nanohub.org, an initiative of the NSF-funded Network for Computational Nanotechnology (NCN). With sections devoted to education (nanocurriculum), tutorials, research (seminars, online presentations), and simulations (nanoelectronics, nanofluidics, and nanobiology), NCN's site is poised to give researchers the information they need to succeed, and nonpractitioners the background necessary to understand these rapidly evolving fields.

@ www.nanohub.org

Lipids R Important

Biomolecules known as the lipids don't get a big share of the biological spotlight, but they should. These largely water-insoluble compounds, which comprise the fats/oils, membrane lipids, sterols, prenols, and fat-soluble vitamins, have been overshadowed for years by one of their lot, cholesterol, due to its long-recognized ill effects on the cardiovascular system. Increasingly, however, the roles of the other lipids on human health are being revealed. They include the saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fats (cardiovascular health), prostaglandins (pain, tissue maintenance, uterine contractions), vitamin A (differentiation and vision), vitamin D (bone health), vitamin E (antioxidant), and even the polyketides (antibiotics). To help researchers keep track of this diverse collection of compounds is Lipid Metabolites and Pathways Strategy (MAPS), a website housing a 10,000+ record lipid database with structural information and much more.

@ www.lipidmaps.org