This week NSDL's blogosphere features a comment to the News Topic Center post: 2006 Heralded Record Loss of Ozone and Substantial Ice Shrinkage http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/newstopiccenter/2006/10/10/2006-heralded-record-loss-of-ozone-and-substantial-ice-shrinkage/#comments
that questions the human role in global warming and climate change and suggests resources on the other side of "...This historic debate (which) is a wonderful opportunity to give students an insight into the central role of scientific debate in scientific method." This comment comes as AAAS EurekAlert! Chat suggests "that humans will need to adapt to the change even as we look for ways to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that fuel the warming." http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2006/1019climate.shtml

A lively panel presentation at last week's NSDL Annual Meeting: Meeting Web Kids on Their Own Turf: Expanding Online Social Spaces for Scholarship, sparked a thoughtful conversation between Dave MacArthur and Tammara Sumner regarding MacArthur's post, Keeping up with the pace of the web in education http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/webkids/2006/10/15/keeping-up-with-the-pace-of-the-web-in-education/
in which he wonders why significant technologies such as DLESE's strand maps take so long to make their way into classrooms. You are invited to take a look and add your thoughts.

Related Link: http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/newstopiccenter/2006/10/10/2006-heralded-record-loss-of-ozone-and-subst

http://cellimages.ascb.org
The American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) now offers a source for peer-reviewed, high-quality visual and written resources from cell biology innovators: the newly launched ASCB Image & Video Library (IVL).

All IVL items undergo a rigorous review process similar to reviews performed by journals. As a result, users of IVL resources can be confident of the authenticity and importance to cell biology of the images, videos, digital books, and annotations on the website. Many IVL resources have profound historical value; others represent current depictions of myriad cell processes.

The IVL contains digital books in PDF format, JPEG2000 images, and videos in QuickTime format. The annotations provide a rich source of information that can be used as teaching and/or study aids. And the IVL supports the Open Access concept: All resources are freely available for educational and research purposes.
Related Link: http://cellimages.ascb.org

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=567012518644
On behalf of the Annual Meeting Planning Committee, thanks to everyone who attended this year's meeting at AAAS in Washington, D.C. In order to improve and enhance future meetings, please tell us your thoughts about the meeting by filling out this survey at your earliest convenience if you have not already done so.

Related Link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=567012518644

http://www.macfound.org/site/c.lkLXJ8MQKrH/b.855229/k.CC2B/Home.htm
The MacArthur Foundation recently announced a 50 million dollar initiative on digital media and learning and seeks to create networks of interested scholars and practitioners as they move toward a substantial investment in the area of digital media and learning.

Related Link: http://www.macfound.org/site/c.lkLXJ8MQKrH/b.855229/k.CC2B/Home.htm

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061017-8005.html
The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) released a report today recommending that the federal government provide funding to create more educational video games. They argue that video games teach higher-level, complex thinking skills that are used in today's workplaces, and that these skills would give American students an edge in the job market over foreign competition.

Related Link: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061017-8005.html

http://secondlife.com/
Second Life is a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents. From an introduction to a recent New World Notes blog post in Second Life: "What's it mean to have a world that's tripled in population within a few months, and increased tenfold in under eleven? If there's one person in Second Life who knows, it's Tateru Nino. As an informal leader of the thousand-strong Mentor volunteer program, she's ever been on the front lines as new Residents have arrived by the tens of thousands daily, in a Welcome Area that's quickly become a teeming, overtaxed Ellis Island. For veteran Residents from before Second Life's 100,000+ era, her thoughts are sobering and humbling, but ultimately optimistic."

Related Link: http://secondlife.com/

http://www.the-scientist.com/cultureFriday/2006/10/20//
Every Friday The Scientist Magazine of Life Sciences presents stories from the intersection of culture and the life sciences such as, Is That Beer on Your Tie--A molecular biophysicist helps fund his lab with lush microphotos that decorate neckties, calendars and greeting cards http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/25122/


Related Link: http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/25122/

http://jmol.sourceforge.net/
http://www.jce.divched.org/JCEDLib/index.html
Jmol is a free, open source molecule viewer for students, educators, and researchers in chemistry and biochemistry available through the NSDL Pathway for Chemical Sciences Education Provided by the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the Journal of Chemical Education (JCE). JMOL is cross-platform, running on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux/Unix systems. This is the Jmol applet in action. It is not a movie, slide show, or animated image file--Jmol is an interactive web browser applet.

Related Link: http://jmol.sourceforge.net/