2002 Sci/Tech Web Awards: BIOLOGY

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Embryo Images: Normal & Abnormal Mammalian Development

A series of striking, seemingly almost three-dimensional, scanning electron micrographs of human and mouse embryos serve as the principal vehicle for this fine online tutorial on mammalian embryology. You can click through the images, to see the steps of development; cross sections help illuminate many of the developmental stages as well.

DNA from the Beginning

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Click here for a well-conceived Web primer provides the fundamentals of heredity, genes and that all-important molecule of life¿deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA. Each key concept is elucidated by animations, images, video interviews, sample problems, biographies and links. From the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

MicrobeWorld

Wherever you'd like to go in the micro-scale universe of bacteria and viruses, here's your gateway. This American Society of Microbiology site serves as a portal for a trio of nicely done sites on the basics of the topic: one is designed for the general public, another for teachers and a third is intended especially for children.

The Interactive Fly

Find out about bazooka, eyeless, lame duck, shaggy and all the rest: this cyberspace guide to the myriad fruit fly (Drosophila) genes and their control functions is a monumental magnum opus that has become a standard in the field of developmental biology.

The Tree of Life

Written by scientists from around the globe, this impressive Internet project contains fundamental information about phylogeny and biodiversity for students, laypeople and professionals alike. You can trace how various organisms link to others in the form of an evolutionary Tree of Life.

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