A new searchable database shows what pesticides are found on different foods, in what amount, and the health effects associated with exposure to each of the chemicals.
See Also: Where Does the Data Come From (Methodology)?
Source: Pesticide Action Network (via RTKNet.org)
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is introducing a new Web site that will provide a centralized resource for information on near-Earth objects – those asteroids and comets that can approach Earth. The “Asteroid Watch” site also contains links for the interested public to sign up for NASA’s new asteroid widget and Twitter account.
“Most people have a fascination with near-Earth objects,” said Don Yeomans, manager of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program Office at JPL. “And I have to agree with them. I have studied them for over three decades and I find them to be scientifically fascinating, and a few are potentially hazardous to Earth. The goal of our Web site is to provide the public with the most up-to-date and accurate information on these intriguing objects.”
+ Access the NASA/JPL Asteroid Watch Web Site
+ Follow Asteroid Watch on Twitter
An RSS feed and E-Mail Alert (select asteroids) are also available.
+ Download the Asteroid Watch Widget
Source: AScribe
Now, more than 1,500 historic TV commercials from the Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History in the Duke University Special Collections Library are available on iTunes U in a collection called “AdViews,” viewable at library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/adviews.
The first 1,500 digitized television commercials, mostly from the 1950s and 1960s, are part of the Hartman Center’s D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles (DMB&B) advertising agency archive. It includes 12,000 commercials total, some produced as recently as the late 1980s. Duke Libraries plans to make the remaining commercials available by the end of 2009.
You can watch the content online (via iTunes) and/or download to an iPod.
Have Fun!
Sources: MyNC.com, Duke University Libraries
Hat Tip: AMIA Newsbriefs
From the Database Web Site:
This interactive database allows users to explore public opinion trends in 55 countries on topics ranging from attitudes toward the U.S. to people’s assessments of their own lives to views about globalization, democratization, extremism and other important issues. Data can be searched by question, by topic or by country – and results can be displayed in map, table or chart formats. The findings are from eight surveys conducted by the Pew Global Attitudes Project from 2002-2009 among a total of more than 200,000 respondents.
Access the Complete Database (Free)
Source: Pew Global Attitudes Project
From a National Journal Blog Post:
The co-creator of the government accountability Web site StimulusWatch.org has launched a new project intended to make federal rulemakings easier for the public to access and offer comment. Jerry Brito, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, recently unveiled OpenRegs.com, which takes the Federal Register’s daily XML feed to new heights. Currently, the U.S. government’s Regulations.gov allows citizens to find, review, and submit comments on federal documents but Brito and others believe the portal is not as dynamic and user friendly as it could be.
Source: Tech Daily Dose (National Journal)
Network managers and educational institutions are being urged to plan ahead and consider long-term network capacity by a new report 1from JISC’s Technology and Standards Watch service, as statistics show that Internet traffic is doubling every year.
The report from JISC’s Technology and Standards Watch service (JISC TechWatch2), entitled “100G Ethernet and beyond: preparing for the exabyte Internet”, explains the background and technical development to the next upgrade of the thirty-year old Ethernet family of networking standards which will be formalised in 2010.
Direct to Complete TechWatch Report (29 pages; PDF)
Source: JISC
Another dose of new and useful web resources from Roddy MacLeod and crew at the Heriot-Watt University Library
The first entry is abattoir (not abbatoir); the last is ZULU (a term used by Western military forces to mean GMT).
In between are 2,211 additional entries in the A-to-Z general style guide, part of the Reuters Handbook of Journalism, which we are now making available online. Also included in the handbook are sections on standards and values; a guide to operations; a sports style guide and a section of specialised guidance on such issues as personal investments by journalists, dealing with threats and complaints and reporting information found on the internet.
The handbook is the guidance Reuters journalists live by — and we’re proud of it. Until now, it hasn’t been freely available to the public. In the early 1990s, a printed handbook was published and in 2006 the Reuters Foundation published a relatively short PDF online that gave some basic guidance to reporters. But it’s only now that we’re putting the full handbook online.
+ Access to the Complete Handbook
Source: Reuters
Hat Tip: CARR-L
Two of the oldest known copies of the Qur’an will be available to researchers and scholars across the world today (8 July 2009) – as part of a major project to digitise one of the richest collections of Eastern manuscripts.
The two Qur’ans, one of which may date from the 7th century A.D, are part of the priceless Mingana Collection, which is housed by the University of Birmingham.
The University’s Special Collections department has painstakingly digitised more than 10,000 pages from the collection. As well as the Qur’ans the documents now online include unique illustrated manuscripts from the 16th century and early Arabic poetry. The project has been generously supported by JISC and The Edward Cadbury Charitable Trust.
Access the Virtual Manuscript Room
Source: JISC
CDC Launches New Environmental Public Health Tracking Network
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced today the launch of the Web-based Environmental Public Health Tracking Network, a surveillance tool that scientists, health professionals, and – for the first time – members of the public can use to track environmental exposures and chronic health conditions.
…
The web-based tool unites vital environmental information from across the country, including air and water pollutants and information for some chronic conditions, including asthma, cancer, childhood lead poisoning and heart disease into one resource.While scientists know exposures such as air particle pollution and lead contribute to illnesses, many environmental and health connections remain unproven since detailed health and environmental data existed in separate silos until now.
+ National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
CDC Introduces New Website to Help Employers Combat Obesity and Reduce Health-Related Costs
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today unveiled LEANWorks!, a Website designed to help businesses address obesity. LEAN stands for Leading Employees to Activity and Nutrition. The new Website was announced at a National Business Group on Health meeting in Washington, D.C.
“CDC LEANWorks! was developed in direct response to organizations asking CDC for help in addressing the obesity epidemic. Specifically they wanted to know what interventions were effective in helping employees maintain a healthy weight,” said William Dietz, M.D., Ph.D., director of CDC’s Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity. “CDC has identified science-based interventions that work to prevent and control obesity. CDC LEANWorks! provides the tools that employers need to take action.”
The free Website was developed particularly for small and mid-size companies, which typically have more limited resources to devote to obesity prevention efforts. However, the tools and resources available on CDC LEANWorks! can benefit companies of any size. CDC LEANWorks! can help employers calculate the cost of obesity for their organizations and develop tailored approaches to help control these costs through interventions such as fitness classes, lunchtime health education sessions, weight management programs, and more.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Customizable Interactive Map Shows U.S. Alternative Fuel Data
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) announced the launch of a comprehensive mapping tool to help industry and government planners implement alternative fuels and advanced vehicles. The new TransAtlas tool combines several different types of geographic data to identify areas with potential for developing advanced transportation projects. It is sponsored by DOE’s Clean Cities initiative, which aims to reduce petroleum consumption in the transportation sector by promoting advanced vehicle technologies and alternative fuels. This interactive mapping tool is available by visiting www.afdc.energy.gov and clicking on the TransAtlas icon.
Source: National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL)
From a News Post:
Collaborative technology developer WebNotes has released WebNotes Pro to the public. The hosted service is designed to help researchers and students share and annotate content and disseminate work through automatically generated reports.
WebNotes Pro, which has been in a private beta since December 2008, is an online research tool that allows users to highlight and annotate their work. It provides the ability to place sticky notes on documents and highlight text in various colors. Annotated content can then be shared with colleagues using e-mail or permanent links. The service can also generate reports automatically and output the reports as HTML and PDF documents.
Access to the basic WebNotes service is always free. The Pro Version costs $9.95/month.
Source: T.H.E. Journal
Another helping of news and new resources from Roddy MacLeod and crew at the Heriot-Watt University Library
This week I tested a solution that might have made my quest for boots a little simpler. Snipi, which became available as a free download from Snipi.com on Monday, helps you organize your online-shopping results by gathering, or “snipping,” product information from Web pages and saving the information to lists.
These lists are stored on your personalized Snipi page, where you can access them later. Snipi also can save photos and videos to lists. And it has a coordinating iPhone app that shows up-to-date versions of the lists created on the computer, so you can have them with you on the go.
Source: D: All Things Digital (WSJ)
We now have a WorldCat list widget available – you can see it in action here on the right hand side of the WorldCat Blog. You can customize the widget to display items on your public WorldCat list – just copy the HTML code in to your website and include the ‘List ID’ for your list.
Source: WorldCat.org
A full batch of news and new resources from Roddy MacLeod and crew at the Heriot-Watt University Library.is
You can access the feed here to place into your RSS aggregator.
For many more Swine Flu resources from a number of sources, see this ResourceShelf post from Tuesday.
Source: WHO
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