Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Portal to Science Primers

A very useful website has been developed which gathers high-level introductory science primers, technical resources on a number of sciences. Developed by subject specialists from research libraries through an NLM grant to the University of Massachusetts Medical School, it brings together primers and tutorials to help librarians who work with "e-science" -- the model of "collaborative, data-intensive science" as opposed to science that relies on solitary, experimental observations.

While designed for librarians, the primers would be useful to people in other fields who need to gain an understanding of related areas, and also to students wanting a technical introduction to a field of science, much of it health-related. Also available through the main e-Science Portal are links to science data repositories.

These topics are currently covered by the primers:
biology, biochemistry, chemistry, environmental-science, geoscience, astronomy, computer-science, physics, engineering, nanotechnology, molecular-biology, microbiology, biotechnology, epidemiology, genetics, nutrition, stem-cell-biology.

Website referenced:
http://esciencelibrary.umassmed.edu./sci_subject_primers
http://esciencelibrary.umassmed.edu/