Click here for quick access to Web Links on the Special Edition of the Biology Place. You can learn some of the stories behind various scientific discoveries, and gain insight into the use of the scientific method. Pest control, ethics of animal experimentation, evolution of pepper moths, and acupuncture are the topics of this small online taste of the book Doing Biology by Joel Hagen, Douglas Allchin, and Fred Singer. This multimedia collection contains descriptions of some of the 10,000 scientific research projects that have used the resources of National Science Foundation supercomputing centers. The reports range from astronomy to zoology, and include scientific breakthroughs on black holes, how the heart works, pollution control, and modeling the oceans.
All reports have images, and many also are accompanied by animations and sound.
The site contains the text of a November 1996 British television lecture by Richard Dawkins. The lecture is aimed at a general audience and addresses the nature of science, stressing how it is progressive. Dawkins discusses why many people, particularly people with a background in the arts and humanities, dislike science, suggesting that their dislike is based on misunderstanding. Dawkins quotes from and comments on a number of literary sources. Many of the targets he criticizes are British, but the issues are international.