Biofuels Information Exchange: As biofuels grow in importance, there is more interest in finding places where professionals, scientists, and policymakers with a passion for the subject can come together and exchange ideas. CABI, a non-profit science-based development and information organization, has created this website to allow just that to happen. What can you do on the site? Well, for starters you can peruse the “What’s in the News” area to learn about timely reports from different news outlets and scholarly sources regarding biofuels technology. Dedicated users should sign up on the site so that they can create their own group to discuss shared interests with other colleagues on the site and so that they may create a profile. The site also has a blog, a section dedicated to relevant publications, and a RSS feed of activities from registered users.

EPA Science Notebook: What are those hard-working scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) up to? That’s a good question, and the very fine Science Notebook website has the answers. The site “offers a window into science at EPA, through stories, interviews, videos, podcasts, and more.” The Science Notebook homepage includes links to “Greenversations with Scientists”, an ongoing feature that profiles scientists’ reflections on studying indoor air quality, health physics, and other topics. Moving on, visitors can also explore the work of their “Action Teams”, which are working on detecting lead paint in homes and sustainable use of contaminated sediment. Each one of these areas features video profiles of various scientists and links to their team’s photographs, publications, and related links. Finally, visitors can also sign up for their RSS feed and podcast updates.

Future Agricultures: The Future Agricultures group is a UK Department for International Development (DFID) funded consortium comprised of the Institute of Development Studies, Imperial College London, and Overseas Development Institute. The group is committed to examining the issues that surround agriculture and rural development across the world, with a particular focus on the developing world. Their work includes reports on water management in Ethiopia, a potential second “Green Revolution”, and food security. The materials on their site are found in sections that include “News and Events”, “Debates”, and “Publications”. The “Debates” area is a good one, as it includes thoughtful conversations on timely topics like pastoralism, the “Green Revolution” in Africa, and soil fertility. Scholars in the field will appreciate the “Publications” area, which includes policy briefs on poverty reduction in Kenya, coffee commercialization in Malawi, and rising food prices. Finally, visitors can also sign up to receive their RSS feed and provide feedback on their work.

Nature Online Video Streaming Archive: Nature is an international, interdisciplinary, weekly peer-reviewed journal of science that has an impressive website that conveys its information in written, audio or video formats. The video offerings here “feature interviews with scientists behind the research and analysis from Nature editors.” Nature also has a YouTube channel that can be used to “upload and share our videos across the Internet through websites, mobile devices, blogs and email.” Visitors will note that most, but not all, of the videos in the video archive have “free access” next to the title of the video. Some of the pay videos are available via iTunes. When visitors click on a video in the video archive, they will find that they can choose to watch the video in high or low quality and they can download the required Flash Plugin, if needed. Additionally, visitors will find a section entitled “Background Information”, which gives links to Nature podcasts and articles about the research presented in the video.

Neuroscience Information Network: This website is a neuroscience research tool sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Health and Human Services, and NIH Blueprint. The “NIF Tools” tab at the top of any page provides links to eight of the resource types that the network searches, with further explanation as to which databases are searched within those resource types. The “NIF Data Federation” link takes you to a list of the 40 databases that when searched, reveal what is called, the “hidden web”, as the content is that not typically indexed by existing search engines. Importantly, for this complex and important website, there are “tutorials” available on the site in the top right hand corner. The “Webinars” section links to the most current webinar, as well as to the “Webinar Archive” from 2009.