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Natural Science Weblinks

Networking Nature

Selected Internet services provided by the scientific journal Nature.

The natural science journal Nature and its US rival Science are the world's leading scientific publications. The Nature Publishing Group is currently trying to become the opinion-shaping leader on the Internet. The group is currently going through a phase of wild experimentation, and it remains entirely unclear which services and products will turn out -- by a kind of natural selection -- to be successful in the long-term. There were repeated setbacks and dead ends, as Timo Hannay -- the director of Web publishing at the NPG's online department, which is currently 25 employees strong -- openly admits. "But if we take no risks, we cannot achieve true innovation," Hannay says.

• The Web sites of Nature and Science

• Launchpad provides a good overview of various products provided under the umbrella of Nature. Some of these, such as Dissect Medicine, were developed externally.

• Visiting the virtual world Second Life is free. The island Second Life features scientific gimmicks such as walkable cells, a map of the heavens or a molecule model generator.

• Connotea is Nature's tagging service, a kind of intelligent link list that also functions as a social networking site.

• Connotea uses an open source code for its software, which can be seen here.

• Nature journalist Declan Buttler has produced a mashup with Google Earth, in which he portrays the spread of bird flu.

• The bird flu plugin for Google Maps can be found here.

• What's new from the developers of the Web services department? The Weblog Nascent tells you, as well as inviting commentary from readers.

• Various databanks compiled under the umbrella of Nature.

• Various podcasts, some on various specialist topics. The Nature podcast alone allegedly has about 40,000 listeners at present.

• The annual meeting of scientists, Science Foo, can unfortunately only be attended by invitation. Information on it can be found here or on Wikipedia.

Background information

• An interesting introduction to the approach chosen by Timo Hannay, the director of the Web publishing department at the Nature Publishing Group. His main message: "I switched from networks of neurons to networks of computers about 10 years ago when I discovered the Web."

• Two articles on the topic of social bookmarking, which the director of Nature's online department was involved in. The general thrust: "The Web is old, the Web is new, the Web is all, the Web is you."

http://www.dlib.org/dlib/april05/hammond/04hammond.html and http://www.dlib.org/dlib/april05/lund/04lund.html

• A blogger reports on a lecture about Nature's Internet publishing activities.

• Selected classic articles from Nature's archive, by authors such as Einstein, Röntgen and Crick.

• The first cover stories from Nature, including the very first, which features a motto from Goethe: "She is ever shaping new forms; what is, has never yet been; what has been, comes not again. Everything is new, and yet nought but the old."

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