1. NETWATCH edited by Mitch Leslie
D ATA B A S E
RESOURCES
Beyond the Sustain the Earth
Jungle Book If you’re looking for Web resources on how science might con-
Lions and tigers and bears tribute to development that doesn’t ruin the environment,
live in the wild in India, check out the Forum on
along with some 90,000 Science and Technolo-
other animal species, includ- gy for Sustainability,
ing this saucer-sized atlas sponsored by Harvard
moth (Attacus atlas). The new University. The site
compendium IndFauna, hosted by rounds up a host of pa-
the National Chemical Laboratory Cen- pers, online books, and reports
tre for Biodiversity Informatics in Pune, offers taxonomic synopses touching on everything from
for all of the described species of Indian animals. Besides the lat- biobased fuels to wind energy
est information on classification and conservation status, you’ll in India. An events calendar
find distribution data down to the state level. The atlas moth, for tracks important conferences
example, flaps around 11 states stretching from eastern to west- and workshops. In the com-
ern India. You can also browse the center’s similar collections on mentary section, guest con-
Indian plants and fungi. tributors sound off on topics
www.ncbi.org.in from how to measure sustain-
ability to biotechnology’s role in promoting it.
RESOURCES Many of the offerings revolve around seven key
questions, including whether researchers can
The Universe determine “safe” limits for
human-caused environmental
From A to Z IMAGES alterations such as climate
Wondering why space change.
scientists are excited Get an sustsci.harvard.edu
about Lake Vostok, which
lies buried beneath EyefulTO O L S
3700 meters of ice in Romantics aren’t
Antarctica? Want to the only people Cancer’s Gene
know how long a star who gaze into
lives? The answers someone else’s Teams
await at the wide- eyes. So do med The free GeneXPress software
ranging Encyclopedia students, oph- available from this site can
of Astrobiology, Astronomy, and thalmologists, and researchers who have set their sights on help researchers parse micro-
Spaceflight from astronomer visual disorders. They can get a close look at how the eye array data to identify groups
and writer David Darling of works and what happens when it falters at the Eye Patholo- of genes that work in concert
Brainerd, Minnesota. For exam- gist. Featuring more than 3500 images, the tutorial comes during normal activities or in
CREDITS (TOP TO BOTTOM): VISHWAS CHAVAN; PHOTODISC RED; GORDON KLINTWORTH
ple, the average lifetime of a G from pathologist Gordon Klintworth of Duke University cancerous cells. Created by re-
type star like our sun is 10 bil- Medical Center.Visitors can study the anatomy and function searchers at Stanford Univer-
lion years, whereas a torrid gi- of structures such as the lens, cornea, retina, and optic sity, the program winkles out
ant blue star like Alnitak will nerve. The primer also describes development and how the clusters of genes whose activi-
perish after a mere 10 million eye changes over time. As we age, the lacrimal glands that ty rises or falls in unison. The
years. And Lake Vostok might exude tears shrivel and amass fatty deposits, and they site also holds a database of
serve as a model for possible sometimes stint on tear production. The more than 5000 results from the group’s analy-
oceans on worlds such as eye diseases covered range from cataracts to Marfan syn- sis of nearly 2000 microarrays
Jupiter’s moon Europa.The pages drome, a connective tissue malfunction in which the lens of- for 22 tumor types from pub-
also offer brief biographies ten grows in the wrong position. lished studies. As they report-
of luminaries in astronomy, www.eyepathologist.com ed in this month’s Nature Ge-
rocketry, and related fields, netics, the researchers found
such as the eccentric Swiss- 456 “modules,” or gene teams
American Fritz Zwicky (1898–1974), who inferred the presence that labor together. A cadre of genes that checks division shuts
of dark matter. down in cells from some leukemia patients, for example.
www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/ETEmain.html robotics.stanford.edu/~erans/cancer
Send site suggestions to netwatch@aaas.org. Archive: www.sciencemag.org/netwatch
www.sciencemag.org SCIENCE VOL 306 22 OCTOBER 2004 585
Published by AAAS