[NMScience] FW: The Scout Report -- September 19, 2008

[Ellen Loehman]

NASA Images 
http://www.nasaimages.org/
 
The NASA Images website is an extremely well organized and good-looking
website, with its interactive spaceflight timeline on the homepage serving
as a great introduction.  Sliding the mouse along the timeline allows the
visitor to see how long each craft was used in the space program.  By
clicking on one of the voyages, the visitor is taken to all images related
to that voyage. Clicking on the Pioneer brings up only 168 images, Apollo
4,278, but clicking on the International Space Station brings up a whopping
18,287 images.  Everything from astronaut publicity shots, artists
renderings of a craft's trajectory, montages, and even short films are
presented among the images.  The entire site boasts 100,000 images. Once the
visitor has made it beyond the homepage, one can hit the Explore button at
the top of the page, and choose to view images based on when they were taken
(1949-present), who took them, what geographical region they were taken of
(Afghanistan to Mars to Zambia) and their subject matter (Andromeda to
Weightless Environment Training Facility).  Before departing from the site,
a visitor should type in Northern Lights in the search box on the right side
of the page.  When scrolling down through the results, there will be images
both beautiful and eerie.

Dig It! The Secrets of Soil [Macromedia Flash Player]
http://forces.si.edu/soils/
 
When it comes to change, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
has got it covered.  The online exhibitions of their "Forces of Change"
series covers the current changes the world is facing, from sky to soil, and
everything in between. Exploring the world of soil is the focus of "Dig It!
The Secrets of Soil" and visitors can start off by listening to a podcast of
a Bureau of Land Management soil scientist and the Dig It! Exhibit
developer.  Look in the featured topics section to explore, among other
things, what soil is,