More Research Links - A Mirror (Credit @s-n-arly on tumblr)

In my previous post on options for research beyond Google, there were a good number of compiled links from a post by Edward Clark. I'll admit I don't know who that is, but I thought the link looked pretty good. Since my previous post has an embed link for tumblr, if the post is deleted or lost the links will also be lost. So I'm going to blockquote some of them here.

• refseek - Academic Search Engine - More than a billion sources: encyclopedia, monographies, magazines.
• WorldCat.org - a search for the contents of 20 thousand worldwide libraries. Find out where lies the nearest rare book you need.
• SpringerLink - access to more than 10 million scientific documents: books, articles, research protocols.
• Bioline International is a library of scientific bioscience journals published in developing countries.
• RePEc: Research Papers in Economics - volunteers from 102 countries have collected almost 4 million publications on economics and related science.
• Science.gov is an American state search engine on 2200+ scientific sites. More than 200 million articles are indexed.
• PDF Drive is the largest website for free download of books in PDF format. Claiming over 225 million names.
• BASE (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine): Basic Search is one of the most powerful researches on academic studies texts. More than 100 million scientific documents, 70% of them are free.

There was an update post with more search databases and other useful sites. The important point to research is to do the deep work of using many sources that are free from bias.

• Qwant - Search engine with no tracking or advertising
• Ecosia - Search engine that plants trees – has ads and that ad revenue runs the engine while funding tree planting

Academic/Reseach

• Academia - platform that shares academic research
• arXiv - (pronounced archive, apparently) is a free distribution service and an open-access archive for 2,328,899 scholarly articles in the fields of physics, mathematics, computer science, quantitative biology, quantitative finance, statistics, electrical engineering and systems science, and economics. It is housed by Cornell University
• Astrophysics Data System - The SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) is a digital library portal for researchers in astronomy and physics, operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) under a NASA grant. The ADS maintains three bibliographic collections containing more than 15 million records covering publications in astronomy and astrophysics, physics, and general science.
• REPEAT: BASE (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine): Basic Search BASE is a search engine specifically for academic studies texts, and contains more than 100 million scientific documents, 70% of them are free.
• REPEAT: Bioline - This is a library of scientific bioscience journals published in developing countries.
• Education Resources Information Center - ERIC is a comprehensive, easy-to-use, searchable, internet-based bibliographic and full-text database of education research and information.
• JSTOR - academic digital library providing access to more than 12 million journal articles, books, images and primary sources in 75 disciplines.
• PubMed - the National Institute for Health's National Library of Medicine, comprises more than 35 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Citations may include links to full text content from PubMed Central and publisher web sites.
• Research Gate - founded to address the problems in the way science is created and shared. Connects the world of science and makes research open to all.
• REPEAT: Research Papers in Economics - Volunteers from 102 countries have collected almost 4 million publications on economics and related science for RePEc.
• Sci-Hub - research publication library – technically pirated content, but please note that the researchers do not get paid for publication, and will often send you a PDF of their research for free if you ask, it's the publications that want to restrict access to paying readers
• REPEAT: US Government Science Portal - Science.gov is an American state search engine on 2200+ scientific sites. More than 200 million articles are indexed.
• REPEAT: World Cat - a search for the contents of 20 thousand worldwide libraries. Find out where the rare book you need is.

Libraries

• Boston Library History & Political Science - The Boston Library has a ton of history and poli sci resources. Big libraries often have things available digitally for free, even if you aren't in the area.
• Hathi Trust Digital Library – This library provides free digitized books from all over the world.
• Internet Archive - This non-profit library houses millions of free digital books, movies, software, music, websites, and more.
• PDF Drive - This is the largest website for free download of books in PDF format, claiming over 225 million names. Caution advised as some users report malware may be hidden in with the valid content.
• Project Gutenberg - This site provides free downloads of digital books, focusing on works with expired US copyright. Note, if you look for out-of-print books on Google, it will try to sell you books that you can actually download free from Gutenberg (I've tested this multiple times).
• Z Library – This digital library provides ebooks for free. ... ... Whoa. This is serious. This domain has been seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Understand this. Information wants to be free.

Doing Research? Skip Google (Credit @s-n-arly on tumblr)

Google used to be better. Really.

Years ago, Google's standard search feature always gave the best possible results no matter what you were searching for. And it was a great tool for researchers, teachers and students. There was even a focused sub-domain specifically for research and scholarly pursuits; Google Scholar.

But the years have not been kind. Google is the most popular search engine by far, but as the tool has grown it has become such a strong target for commercialization, advertising, scammers and spammers. At one point, they were very good at deprioritizing these listings, but more recently results are worse. And it is not just me that has been saying it.

• BusinessInsider.com - Google Is Getting Worse As It Loses Fight Against Search Engine Spam
• MarketVantage.com - Google Search Is Getting Worse
• SearchEngineJournal.com - Ex-Googler Answers Why Google Search is Getting Worse

This trend was top-of-mind again recently when I tumbled upon the following post and thread on tumblr. I share it here in near entirety as I feel like it shares a lot of good alternative resources, specifically for researchers.

https://s-n-arly.tumblr.com/post/697929770215899136/skip-google-for-research

Now, in Google's defense, they have always maintained the Scholar sub-domain as the best alternative for actually scholarly research. Whether this separate site still has good results in recent days is something I have not tested, but it's worth keeping if needed.

The Mysterious 30 Year Journey of Apollo 12

List of Educational Websites | Part Twelve

We've made it to the twelfth part of the series of the Ultimate List of Educational Websites. We are cleaning up the last two categories, starting with a miscellaneous section for...

Other

• Online Etymology Dictionary | Origin, history and meaning of English words
• erowid.org - perhaps at one point a good scientific site for understanding biology and psychoactives, but no longer appropriate for this kid's site
• LessWrong - developy and train rationality, apply rationality to real world problems
• Lizard Point - Learn Geography
• Photo.net/learn - Photography articles, lessons, and tutorials
• Freerice - Learn, Play and Give Back. For each answer you get right, our sponsors send the cash equivalent of 10 grains of rice to the World Food Programme
• Think Tutorial - find help for all of your technology needs
• The Chess Website - Learn, Practice and Play Chess
• Investopedia

We only have one part left, coming soon!

Guy Discovers The Terrarium His Brother Left In Isolation For 12 Years Has Exploded Into A Bustling Ecosystem

First off, you need to know that a terrarium is defined by Merriam-Webster as...

terrarium noun

A usually transparent enclosure for keeping or raising plants or usually small animals (such as turtles) indoors.

They can be easy and fun to make for kids of all ages. The following video shows a special enclosed terrarium that has been in cycles for about 12 years.

Creepy and kind of fun.

In this video we take a look at the terrarium my brother made during his childhood. This terrarium was made between 2007 - 2008. This makes the terrarium at least 12 years old.

Inside there is a variety of organisms. All of which have persisted within the closed ecosystem for generations. Originally this terrarium was home to a lot more plant and isopod species, however as the years went by biodiversity was lost as the new ecosystem balanced out.

Currently the ecosystem is experiencing cycles. As the plant population increased, so did the isopods. This caused the isopod population to graze on a lot of the terrariums plants, causing the plant population to decrease. I imagine centipede populations may increase in future giving the plants the opportunity to recover.

I found this terrarium very fascinating as it's almost as if there are two separate worlds within the same glass demijohn. The algae underground creates a unique habitat, which couldn't possibly exist in nature due to the fact the glass ensured that light could reach the soil underground. This allowed algaes, moss and fungi to flourish, alongside any of the smaller invertebrates that lived among them.

Adult isopods seem to inhabit the surface and rarely venture below ground. I believe this is due to the hardness of the clay and rock substrate. The babies do seem to venture underground though, likely using tunnels left behind by earthworms many years ago.

Found via Digg.

Highlights Kids

The place for children of all ages to play games and discover new jokes, surveys, answers to science questions, and fun crafts and recipes from Highlights. Visit HighlightsKids.com.

National Geographic Kids

Visit National Geographic Kids!

What is a 'Blood Moon'?

Learn more about Blood Moons. 'Blood Moons' Explained:...

Source: SPACE.com.

Pendulum Waves

Check out this demonstration of Pendulum Waves on YouTube.

How High Can We Build? [VIDEO]

What's the tallest THING we've ever built? How tall will we EVER be able to build?

This is a pretty impressive breakdown on the tallness of buildings and how high we can eventually build things some day soon.

Oil Spill Removal Technology

Oil spill cleanup options just got a boost.

How To Blow Up an Egg - SCIENCE!

I approve of this foolishness.

Discovery Channel’s Unchained Reaction

We have seen this show and it's good. Perhaps not as good as Mythbusters, but still good.

VIDEO: Misconceptions About Falling Objects

Physics is an interesting field of science because it is the study of real life every day objects and forces. We perceive and experience them constantly, but to fully understand them is sometimes more complicated. Sometimes misconceptions grow when we start to learn part but not all of the big picture.

If you drop a heavy object and a light object simultaneously, which one will reach the ground first? A lot of people will say the heavy object, but what about those who know both will land at the same time? What do they think? Some believe both objects have the same gravitational pull on them and/or both fall to the ground with the same constant speed. Neither of these things is true, however. The force is greater on the heavy object and both objects accelerate at the same rate as they approach the earth, i.e. they both speed up but at the same rate.

Mythbusters: Lego Ball

I cannot wait to see this full episode.

Remember that you can see more videos just like this at Discover.com / Mythbusters.

Decorah Eagles

Decorah Eagles, Ustream.TV: The Raptor Resource Project brings you the Decorah Eagles from atop their tree at the fish hatchery in Decorah, Iowa.

See more Nest Cams.

We Choose the Moon: Pre-launch

In honor of the 20^th anniversary of the first astronauts landing on the moon in July of 1969, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum has put together a commemorative and interactive site recreating the moon landing in an interactive way. Please visit We Choose the Moon.org to learn more.

Kids Can Name NASA's Next Mars Rover!

Let's get signed up for this as soon as possible. Kids can name NASA's next Mars Rover!

Earthquakes Magnitude Scale and Classes

Very early this morning here in St. Louis, Missouri, we experienced a Magnitude 5.2 Earthquake (Google Earth). Then later in the day we experienced an aftershock of magnitude 4.5.

Would you like to learn more about Earthquakes Magnitude Scale and Classes? Visit the UPSeis: an education site for budding seismologists.

Spitzer Space Telescope - NASA

This handout photo received on February 12, 2008 shows newborn stars as they peek out from the Rho Ophiuchi star-forming region in this image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Planets resembling Earth can be found orbiting many sun-like stars in our galaxy, increasing the prospects of finding extraterrestial life on some of them, according to a study released Sunday. (AFP/NASA-HO/File)

Space is amazing! The possibilities of what is out there are limitless. See Print Story: Yahoo! News - Yahoo! News Photos.