Research Infrastructure

Library and Information Center

Rowland Institute at Harvard
Library News & Notes
October 1, 2004

Upcoming Rowland Seminars and Meetings

Oct. 12 Cynthia Volkert Forschungszentrum, Karlsruhe, Germany

Internet Sites of the Week

ClinicalStudyResults.gov
This is a repository for pharmaceutical companies to deposit clinical trial data.
http://www.clinicalstudyresults.org/
(Source: NSF Sci-Tech Library Newsletter, September 23, 2004)

Controlling Hurricanes
A Scientific American piece explores how storms might eventually be redirected or rendered less powerful.
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006
&colID=1&articleID=000593AE-704B-1151-B57F83414B7F0000
(Related: The New York Times asks about the potential of global warming on future hurricane proliferation:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/30/science/30hurricane.html)
(Source: Science in the News)

Do-it-yourself book publishing takes off on the Web
A news article describes “print-on-demand” publishers.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/services/2004-09-21-instabooks_x.htm
(Source: RLG Shelflife, September 30, 2004)

FreeCycle
eBay looks good, but on the other hand, sometimes why not just give it away…
http://freecycle.org/
(Source: Techdirt)

Global Concerns: An In-Depth Examination of Travel Web Sites Selling International Airline Tickets
Consumer WebWatch evaluates online travel web sites (such as Travelocity and Expedia) to determine which offer lowest prices, best value and ease of use.
http://www.consumerwebwatch.org/news/internationalairfare/index.html
(Source: beSpacific)

Ig Nobel Prizes
This year's roster includes the inventor of Karaoke and a woman who investigated the “five-scecond rule.”
http://www.improb.com/ig/ig-pastwinners.html#ig2004
(Source: Pharyngula)

Mt. St. Helens
A man I know once said: “All of our knowledge about seismology didn't prevent Mt. St. Helens from erupting.” Nevertheless, you can track recent observations of the volcano at this USGS web site.
http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/MSH/
Also, a site with general information about volcanology can be found at
http://www.geology.sdsu.edu/how_volcanoes_work/
(Sources: Librarian's Index to the Internet, Scripting News)

myYahoo
One way to get RSS feeds is to syndicate them through a myYahoo account; the search engine gives you over a thousand feeds to choose from, including New York Times, cNet, BBC News and more.
http://my.yahoo.com/s/about/rss/index.html
(Sources; ResearchBuzz, beSpacific)

Sir Tim Berners-Lee
Technology Review interviews the inventor of the web on its continuing evolution.
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/04/10/frauenfelder1004.asp
(Source: Library Link of the Day)

Wise-Nano
Wise-Nano is a wiki or online collaborative for nanotechnology researchers hosted by the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology.
http://wise-nano.org/w/Main_Page
(Source: SciencePORT.org)

NEW BOOKS/VIDEOS

Received September 25 - October 1, 2004