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• Nice images, background information
• Much of the content is California-specific
• Rating

• Bay Area Mycological Society
• www.bayareamushrooms.org/index.html

• Who doesn’t love a fun site about fungus? The Bay Area Mycological Society offers an array of ways to get one’s mushroom fix (and not in that psychedelic mushroom sort of way). Dedicated to “the art and science of mushrooms,” the Bay Area Mycological Society provides information about the club’s activities and region-specific mushroom facts, although there are also resources to benefit curious readers outside of sunny California. The “mushroom of the month” profiles different species (this month is the Death Cap’s moment in the spotlight), while the “poisonings” page offers useful (and potentially life-saving) information. There are even some mushroom recipes (not to be used with the mushrooms pictured on the poisonings page!). One need not be a mushroom maniac in order to appreciate this site—indeed, it offers a nice introduction to anyone looking to tap into his/her inner mycologist.

• Written in easy-to-understand language, depth of information
• None
• Rating

• DrugDigest
• www.drugdigest.org/wps/portal/ddigest

• It certainly does grow tiresome, trying to read all of the microscopic print in medication advertisements or on pill bottles. Surely there must be a website to explain the purposes and risks of various medications. Enter DrugDigest, a noncommercial site “dedicated to empowering consumers to make informed choices about drugs and treatment options.” The site is written in a consumer-friendly way, organizing its material into questions such as, “What should I watch for while using this medication?”, “What if I miss a dose?”, and “When should I be careful taking it?” In addition to covering drugs and vitamins, the website also includes herbs and supplements. Visitors to the site can view pill images to ensure that they have the right drug, print a wallet-sized medication card, and peruse the medication checklist, a list of 13 facts one should know about each of one’s prescriptions.

• Large database of freely downloadable imaging software
• Nothing major
• Rating

• I Do Imaging
• www.idoimaging.com/index.shtml

• Now, I do not do imaging, but if you happen to find yourself in agreement with the title of this website, you will certainly find something of use. Idoimaging.com provides a compilation of free medical-imaging applications and resources, including Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) viewers, DICOM converters, and Picture Archiving and Communication System clients. The programs included on the website cover over 25 file formats, and there are many search parameters to help you locate specific programs of interest. In addition to having access to programs culled from other sites by idoimaging.com, visitors to the site can actually search the contents of all of the websites indexed by idoimaging.com. So, do you do imaging? If so, take a glance at this site.

• Nice organization and multimedia resources
• None
• Rating

• Tardigrades
• tardigrades.bio.unc.edu

• Certainly ranking among the most obscure animals, tardigrades (also known as water bears) comprise a phylum of animals that includes over 700 different species. The Goldstein Lab at UNC Chapel Hill wants to tell you not only what tardigrades are, but also why the tardigrade Hypsibius dujardini is an important research model. Dr. Bob Goldstein plans to use this species as a model to study the effects of developmental alterations on the evolution of morphology. On the lab website, one can find a number of intriguing images and videos of this tardigrade, including videos entitled, “water bears walking” and “far too many water bears.”  The lab has also posted a number of protocols on the site, as well as links to other tardigrade-centric sites. There is plenty to learn about these tiny tardigrades.

• Useful bioinformatics tools in addition to the database
• Nothing major
• Rating

• The Compositae Genome Project
• compgenomics.ucdavis.edu/index.php

• Allow me to introduce you to the Compositae. Perhaps you already know them—members of the Compositae family include asters, daisies, and sunflowers. If you wish to get to know them on a more intimate (aka genetic) level, then you should visit the website for The Compositae Genome Project. The database provides sequence information, photos, and genetic maps for a number of species, while the “bioinformatics tools” page provides links to various genomics tools. Among these are the GenomePixelizer, a tool to linearly display genomes to illustrate the relationships between genes, and the PhyloGrapher, a graph drawing tool to study evolutionary relationships within families of homologous genes. This website offers plenty of ways to learn more about this flowery family.

• Various resources including images, PowerPoint presentations, and animation
• Animations are slow to load
• Rating

• University of Delaware Histology
• www.udel.edu/biology/Wags/histopage/histopage.htm

• Alkaline phosphatase, cresyl violet, Nissl stains—such are the components that make up the histological rainbow, the stains used to visualize various anatomical and cellular features in tissue samples. Drs. Roger C. Wagner and Fred E. Hossler of the University of Delaware have put together a nice website, complementing their mammalian histology course, that showcases a large number of histological samples in all of their colorful brilliance. Color histological sections are organized by tissue type or organ system, although they are only one of the interesting features of this website. The PowerPoint presentations for each lecture are also posted on the site, and there are also some transmission and scanning electron micrographs. For the more motion-oriented reader, there are a number of animated sequences of 3-D biological models, although one will need to be patient as the large files load.

*The opinions expressed are solely those of the author(s) and should not be construed as reflecting the viewpoints of the publisher, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., the publishing house, or employees and affiliates thereof.

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