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BioTechniquesVol. 38, No. 3 WebWatchOpen AccessWebWatchKevin AhernKevin AhernSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:30 May 2018https://doi.org/10.2144/05383WW01AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail Click FlicksBringing laboratory processes of molecular and cellular biology research to pointing and clicking computer users is not a trivial task. For starters, there's the problem of accurately recreating the lab environment and simulating the many duties of researchers. The creators of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)-sponsored Biointeractive site have done a superb job of creating such a setting. Using attractive Flash animations of lab techniques as seen from a researcher's eyes, the online lab modules give users a surprisingly true “feel” of being in a lab. Virtual experimenters at the site go step-by-step through complex procedures as diverse as identifying bacteria by PCR and sequence analysis, creating transgenic flies, diagnosing heart disease, measuring neural activity, and performing ELISA analyses. Biointeractive is about as close as one can get to a lab without having to smell Escherichia coli.www.BioInteractive.orgJust the FACTsA little Googling reveals that (for many people) love, money, sex, power, or status are the forces that make the world go round. The scientists at the Facility for the Analysis of Chemical Thermodynamics (FACT) probably disagree. Their FACT web site makes a pretty good case for thermodynamics having an important role, at least as it relates to chemistry in modern life. Started in 1976 as a collaboration of chemical properties and thermodynamics in metallurgy, FACT has expanded over the last 25-plus years to become a fully integrated thermodynamic database employing the FACTSage software now in use in hundreds of laboratories around the world. With FACTsage, users can predict reaction directions, calculate thermodynamics in solution, and plot phase diagrams, among many other analyses.www.crct.polymtl.ca/fact/index.phpGenomes Without BordersLike physics, biology is becoming a “big” science. The human genome project, for example, incorporated the efforts of hundreds of scientists and dozens of large organizations to produce a final draft. Multiply that effort times the many genomic sequencing programs in existence around the world, and you can easily see the need for some kind of oversight to keep all the oars pulling in the same direction. The International Sequencing Consortium provides just that with a forum for genomic sequencing groups to coordinate efforts, share information, and deal with sometimes sticky issues, such as the timely release of sequence information.www.intlgenome.org/Mighty MiceYou can buy almost anything you need at discount retail stores, but if you want a good mutant mouse, you'll have to go to a specialty store. Consider Neuromice.org for your mutant mouse shopping needs. A joint National Institute of Health (NIH)-funded project between Northwestern University, the Jackson Laboratory, and the Tennessee Mouse Genome Consortium, Neuromice.org is a source of novel mice lines harboring mutations in genes involved in complex neurologic or behavioral functions. These include mice that are blind, deaf, or hyperactive. Some mice exhibit circling behavior, have altered circadian rhythms, or show unusual responses to drugs. The Neuromice.org site provides information on each mouse available for purchase such as a detailed phenotypic description or genetic map position.www.neuromice.org/The Long and Short of DivisionRemember junior high biology and the endless lectures and textbook illustrations of the process of cell division, but nothing showing the process in action? No wonder so many kids thought biology was boring. Now, thanks to the web and some powerful computer imaging techniques like confocal microscopy, today's budding biologists have something to look at if they can't picture the process in their heads. At Mitosis World, the brain child of Ted Salmon at UNC Chapel Hill, anyone with a browser can watch chromosomes segregate, see the 3-D spindle of mammalian cells rotate, and watch each step of the process of mitosis unfold in the splendor of time-lapse photography right before their eyes.www.bio.unc.edu/faculty/salmon/lab/mitosis/index.htmlFiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Vol. 38, No. 3 Follow us on social media for the latest updates Metrics History Published online 30 May 2018 Published in print March 2005 Information© 2005 Author(s)PDF download