Life Sciences

The sciences of life and of living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, and distribution. Biology and its related sciences.

Sub-headings:

Biochemistry

Chemistry of a specific process or art of living organisms.

Biomedicine

Techniques, procedures, and equipment aspects of biology in medicine.

Biotechnology

Cell Biology

The study of cells of organisms.

Genetics

The study of heredity and variation in organisms.

Marine Biology

The study of organisms in marine and fresh-water environments.

Microbiology

The study of microorganisms (microbes).

Molecular Biology

The study of the ultimate physiochemical nature of organisms.

Plant Biology (Botany)

The study of plant life.

Zoology

The study of animal life.

Resources in this category:

Species in Parks: Flora and Fauna Databases
http://www.ice.ucdavis.edu/nps/

This browsable, searchable page links to databases of vertebrates and vascular plant occurrences (Amphibians, Birds, Fish, Mammals, Reptiles, and Plants) in selected National Parks. Information is given about the order, family, latin name, common name, presence, documentation, resident status, and abundance.

About.com: Biology
http://biology.about.com/

Features articles, Website links, and discussion forums on a wide range of biology-related topics: anatomy & physiology, biochemistry, botany, cell biology, evolution, genetics, marine biology, microbiology, molecular biology, structural biology, and zoology.

ActionBioscience
http://www.actionbioscience.org/

ActionBioscience aims to "promote bioscience literacy." It contains peer-reviewed articles related to seven bioscience challenges such as biodiversity, the environment, genomics, biotechnology, new frontiers in science, evolution, and education. Many scientific articles are available.

The Astrobiology Web
http://www.astrobiology.com/

"Astrobiology seeks to understand the origin of the building blocks of life, how these biogenic compounds combine to create life, how life affects - and is affected by the environment from which it arose, and finally, whether and how life expands beyond its planet of origin." Site contains news and features related to astronomy, biology, and their intersection.

Bio Tech's Life Science Dictionary
http://biotech.icmb.utexas.edu/pages/dictionary.html

Dictionary includes terms related to biochemistry, biotechnology, botany, cell biology and genetics, ecology, limnology, pharmacology, toxicology and medicine. Includes "medically- and biotechnologically-relevant organisms such as bacteria, worms, fungi, and some plants." Search terms or definitions by words or word fragments.

The Biology Project
http://www.biology.arizona.edu/

This excellent series of tutorials and problem sets from the University of Arizona's Biology Learning Center is an excellent introduction to the various facets of biology. "It has been designed for biology students at the college and high school level, but is useful for medical students, physicians, science writers, and all types of interested people." Topics covered include: Biochemistry, Cell Biology, Developmental Biology, Human Biology, Medelian Genetics, Immunology, and Molecular Biology. Each section also has annotated links to other Internet resources on the topic.

Classification of Living Things
http://anthro.palomar.edu/animal/

Tutorial on the Linnaean system of classification used in the biological sciences to describe and categorize all living things. Using a human-centered approach, the site offers a wealth of information including discussions on the principles of classification, glossary of terms and a table of the five kingdoms. Also provides links to other anthropology tutorials.

College Physics for Students of Biology and Chemistry
http://www.rwc.uc.edu/koehler/biophys/text.html

"This is a hypertextbook written for first-year undergraduate physics students. It assumes that you have a working knowledge of algebra, that you are currently taking or have taken a college level course in Biology and one in Chemistry, and that you are interested in biology, chemistry or one of the health-related fields." Problem sets are included. Includes a table of contents and an index.

DesertUSA
http://www.desertusa.com/

As "an online travel and adventure guide to the American Southwest, DesertUSA's purpose is to provide a tool for discovery -- a publication which entertains, educates, and explores with our readers, the beauty, life and culture of the North American deserts.

To this end, DesertUSA contains images, stories, movie and audio clips, virtual reality tours and hard data about, virtually any desert-related topic: plants, animals, geology, cultural and natural history, recreation, parks, cities, travel and people."

eNature
http://www.enature.com/home/

This great site offers access to field guides for more than 4,800 species of plants and animals. In addition to finding out more about various habitats in the United States, users are provided with a forum to ask experts about different species.

Epidemic: The World of Infectious Disease
http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/epidemic/

"Our goal is to explain how a complex mix of ecology, evolution, and culture produce conditions in which disease-causing microbes‹microscopic organisms that live in our environment‹can thrive... Our comprehensive resources section will to help you understand what measures have and can be taken to overcome these diseases." Site includes a glossary, selected resources, a kids magazine, and a teachers guide, plus selected features from other disease-related Web sites.

The Hidden Forest
http://www.hiddenforest.co.nz/

"Have you ever been out in the forest (bush) or maybe even in your own backyard, and come across a strange fungus, lichen or maybe a slime mould, and wondered "what's that?" My web site is my small attempt to photograph and name many of these strange things. Many of the photos have been taken around the Auckland region of New Zealand."

High School Bioethics Project
http://www.bioethics.upenn.edu/

This site from the Penn Center for Bioethics contains a general introduction to bioethics, including a listing of related external links and organizations.

The History of Life
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/historyoflife/histoflife.html

Paleontology incorporates many different kinds of data from different fields. The site provide three different areas in which to start your exploration of paleontology: Phylogeny, Geologic Time, and Evolutionary Thought.

The Hooper Virtual Natural History Museum
http://hoopermuseum.earthsci.carleton.ca/lobby.html

"Welcome to the Hooper Virtual Natural History Museum. The principle objective of this museum is to provide a state-of-the-art summary of items of geological interest, emphasizing areas currently being studied by our students and research faculty." Visit this site to view a growing collection of natural history exhibits created by Carleton University faculty and students. Current exhibits include fossils, evolution and extinction, archaeology and anthropology, climate change, microorganisms, invertebrates, dinosaurs, mammals, theoretical paleontology and more.

INFOMINE - Comprehensive Biological, Agricultural & Medical Internet Resource Collection
http://infomine.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/search?bioag

Large annotated collection of Internet resources related to biology, agriculture and medicine. Resources have been determined to be "'of use' as a scholarly information resource in research or educational activities at the university level." Collection can be searched or browsed by subject, keyword or title. Part of The Library of the University of California, Riverside's INFOMINE.

Intute: Health and Life Sciences
http://www.intute.ac.uk/healthandlifesciences/

A web directory "providing access to evaluated, quality internet resources in the health and life sciences, aimed at students, researchers, academics and practitioners."

Ken's Bio-Web Resources
http://www.kensbiorefs.com/

Sub-titled as Biology Web Site References for students and teachers, this site has "over 1,400 links in 11 biological areas. All links are checked monthly for accuracy and access." Areas include: animal anatomy and physiology, human physiology, evolution, cells (chemistry and structure/function), ecology, genetics, plant physiology, microbiology, and general reference.

MadSciNet: the 24-hour exploding laboratory
http://madsci.org/

Provided by the Washington University Medical School in St. Louis, the MadSci Network site provides an Ask-A-Scientist service, as well as MAD Labs (a collection of demonstrations illustrating science concepts); "The Visible Human",(a digitized guided tour); and the MadSci Laboratory,(organized web links for a wide variety of science fields.)

Marsbugs: The Astrobiology Index
http://www.lyon.edu/projects/marsbugs/

This site provides a channel of information for scientists, educators, and other people interested in life sciences as they relate to planetary science and space exploration. It functions as an informal supplement to the scholarly discourse on the topic.

NASA Life Sciences Data Archive
http://lsda.jsc.nasa.gov/

"NASA's Life Sciences Data Archive (LSDA) contains information and data from space flight experiments funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). This archive contains information about experiments conducted from NASA's first experiments during the 1960s to the present time. The experiments were conducted on a broad range of species, and include human, animal and plant studies."

National Image Library
http://images.fws.gov/

"Contains still photo images of wildlife, plants, National Wildlife Refuges and other scenics, as well as wildlife management work. You may search all the images through the National Image Library, or you may search by individual collection."

National Library of Medicine
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/

The NLM is the world's largest biomedical library. This website provides information about all of its major programs, including medical research, medical history, biotechnology, and HIV/AIDS resources. A wide variety of medical information is available for both professionals and consumers, including access to databases (e.g. MEDLINE and GenBank), fact sheets and newsletters, and toxicology and environmental health information. Searchable.

National Wildlife Federation
http://www.nwf.org/

Check out the status of wolves and the Everglades from the people whose mission is to "educate, inspire and assist individuals and organizations of diverse cultures to conserve wildlife and other natural resources and to protect the Earth's environment in order to achieve a peaceful, equitable and sustainable future."

Nearctica
http://www.nearctica.com/

"Nearctica combines original material and heavily annotated links to bring you all of the natural world of North America. The material is highly organized, easy to access by either keyword or a very extensive index of topics, and presented in a simple, attractive format. Nearctica covers natural history, conservation, the environment, education, geophysics and paleontology, outdoor nature related recreation, and much more. If it's about the plants, animals, or the physical environment of North America, you will find it here."

The Phylogeny of Life
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/exhibit/phylogeny.html

This exhibit, maintained by the University of California Museum of Paleontology at Berkeley, takes you hierarchically through "the ancestor/descendant relationships which connect all organisms that have ever lived."

PubMed
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?DB=pubmed

"PubMed provides access to bibliographic information which includes MEDLINE as well as additional life science journals. MEDLINE is the National Library of Medicine's (NLM) premier bibliographic database covering the fields of medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the health care system, and the preclinical sciences.

"PubMed also provides access and links to the integrated molecular biology databases included in NCBI's Entrez retrieval system. These databases contain DNA and protein sequences, 3-D protein structure data, population study data sets, and assemblies of complete genomes in an integrated system. "

Science and Creationism: A View from the National Academy of Sciences
http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=6024

Free digital book summarizes key aspects of the evidence supporting evolution, describes some of the positions taken by advocates of creation science and presents an analysis of these claims. Free registration required to download book in PDF format.

Sebastopol College Science Learning Area
http://www.sebas.vic.edu.au/links/sci/sci.htm

Sebastopol College in Victoria, Australia, provides this page to organize URL links for a variety of scientific disciplines. By selecting one of the science subject areas - general science, history of science, astronomy/space, biology, chemistry, environmental science, forensic science, geology/paleontology, investigations, physics, or weather/meterology - users are taken to web pages where lists of appropriate URL links are provided. Sebastopol College last tested the links in November 2002. Links to more general URls such as "How Stuff Works" are also included.

The Second Evolution: The Unified Teem Theory of Evolution
http://www.thesecondevolution.com/

An introduction to teem theory, a radical new theory of evolution.

SelectScience
http://www.selectscience.net/

"SelectScience is an online, independent information service for laboratory scientists. It helps consumers to make informed decisions when purchasing. SelectScience also provides additional information services. Up to date news, jobs, conferences, editorial features and links to other sites are key features. SelectScience is the scientists' choice."

The Talk.Origins Archive
http://www.talkorigins.org/

"Talk.origins is a Usenet newsgroup devoted to the discussion and debate of biological and physical origins. Most discussions in the newsgroup center on the creation/evolution controversy, but other topics of discussion include the origin of life, geology, biology, catastrophism, cosmology and theology.
"This archive is a collection of articles and essays, most of which have appeared in talk.origins at one time or another. The primary reason for this archive's existence is to provide mainstream scientific responses to the many frequently asked questions (FAQs) and frequently rebutted assertions that appear in talk.origins."

The Encyclopedia of Earth
http://www.eoearth.org/

Supported and maintained by the Environmental Information Coalition and the National Council for Science and the Environment, this site provides a free collection of scholarly, peer-reviewed articles about "earth, its natural environments, and their interaction with society." The collection is searchable, and users have the option of browsing by author, topic, sources, and several more. There are sections containing frequently updated news about the environment and discussion forums.

The Tree of Life
http://tolweb.org/tree/phylogeny.html

Contains information on the "phylogentic relationships" between creatures as well as links to other sites on the same subject. At the end of each tree branch are articles discussing various genera and species in fair detail.

The Virtual Museum of Natural History
http://www.curator.org/

"The Virtual Museum of Natural History (VMNH), a non-profit scientific and educational organization, operates to provide data and access to data about the earth¹s biodiversity to researchers ranging from grade-school children to professional biologists."

World Biodiversity Database
http://www.eti.uva.nl/Database/WBD.html

"A continuously growing taxonomic database and information system that aims at documenting all presently known species (about 1.7 million) and to make this important biological information worldwide accessible... The WBD contains taxonomic information (hierarchies), species names, synonyms, descriptions, illustrations and literature references when available. A direct link to CMBI provides genetic information on protein sequence (from the SWISS-PROT and TrEMBL databases), nucleic sequence (EMBL) and 3D structures (PDB) for each taxon."