Spin the Model

To depict three-dimensional (3-D) objects on a flat screen realistically, there are basically two options—3-D goggles or rotation. Recognizing this and desiring to be the go-to for chemical images, 3Dchem.com uses both methods, thus giving users a “real feel” to better understand its complicated structures. Options for viewing the collection are almost as extensive as the diversity of molecules to be seen. There is a Molecules of the Month feature, a library with structures of over 1600 inorganic molecules, the top 50 prescription medicines, and an A to Z index of structures. Once a chemical is chosen, it can be examined extensively using over a dozen selectable options. If all this isn't enough, there's also a snazzy, downloadable molecular background image for computer screens.

@ 3Dchem.com

Fun Guy of Fungi

Tom Volk, a professor of biology at the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse, might also be described as the fun guy of fungi, if the pix of him on his web site, Tom Volk's Fungi, are any indication. Essentially an online library about these diverse organisms, Tom's site is as varied as it is informative. If you're a teacher or a student, there are sections designed for you. Likewise, novices will find content catering to them, and there are even two very fun-to-read segments detailing how fungi affect Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas. Even if all you care about are pictures, you'll enjoy a visit here, with thousands of pics to be found.

@ www.tomvolkfungi.net

Winning Compilation

Welcoming an eclectic group of visitors that includes public health professionals, the media, laboratory scientists, educators, students, and the worldwide public, the Public Health Image Library (PHIL) is to the CDC what the Hubble Space Telescope is to NASA—an eye-opening, public relations superstar. With high-resolution pictures, videos, and illustrations, the PHIL aims to further research, scholarship, and public presentations, while spotlighting the CDC. Featured collections include Bioterrorism, Electron Microscopy Images, Influenza, and Natural Disasters. For healthcare providers, public health practitioners, and students of all ages, the CDC's PHIL is a win, win, win.

@ phil.cdc.gov/phil/home.asp

Structural Bias

In comparison to the 49,000+ structures in the Protein Database (PDB), the similar offerings totaling about 3750 in the Nucleic Acid Database (NDB) may make the latter seem a forgotten sister-but it's worth remembering that siblings grow up, too. To be sure, the diversity of nucleic acid structures pales in comparison to those of proteins, but nucleic acids trump the polypeptides by both carrying genetic information (DNA) and being catalytic (ribozymes), so knowledge of their structure-function relationships is important, too. At the NDB site, visitors can locate desired structures with ease, thanks to atlas listings based on structural categories [e.g., DNA junctions, single-stranded DNA hairpin loops, DNA-RNA hybrids, protein-DNA(RNA) complexes, etc.] or search functions based on general information (ID number) or technical aspects of the molecules themselves. Notably, like the PDB, most of the site's data is freely downloadable by FTP.

@ ndbserver.rutgers.edu

Prickly Subjects

When you think of cacti, the UK probably isn't the first place that leaps to mind, but if you need information about these mostly thorny devils, you'll do well to look there for it. Host to one of the most impressive web collections about these diverse and hardy organisms, mammillarias.net (Mammilaria) is a UK-based set of pages with over 2000 pictures and more than 200 species, accompanied by hundreds of distribution maps. These surprisingly beautiful succulents are native to the Americas, with a distribution spanning an area that includes most of Mexico and the southwestern portion of the United States. At the Mammilaria site, visitors can contribute to forums, learn about classification, and peruse geographic distribution specific to each cactus.

@ www.mammillarias.net