Engines of our Ingenuity - The Engines of Our Ingenuity is an American public radio program that describes how culture is molded by human creativity. The site carries transcripts of each broadcast since the program's inception in 1988. If you're at all curious about how art, technology, and ideas have shaped us then take a listen. Every episode reveals a nuance about how we have come to a culture with cable cars and civil wars, submarines and bar codes. As with all good multimedia presentations there are a few spinoffs for consumption too. Material for talks, classroom materials (still under construction unfortunately), there is even a free text book of college-level engineering - A Heat Transfer Textbook, by presenter John Lienhard IV and John Lienhard V available as well as an audio CD called Inventing Europe. The online episode at the time of this review was number 1720, which is rather impressive run to say the least. Episode 1720 talks about the Silk Road, the almost mythical trade route between China and the eastern end of the Mediterranean that went by way of Tibet, Siberia, Samarkand, and Baghdad. The show's presenter John Lienhard IV has presented some 1720 episodes so far and is still an active emeritus professor of the University of Houston and presents episodes like the Silk Sea Lane with much passion. Rating: 9 out of 10 (22 February 2003) DB
http://www.uh.edu/admin/engines/engines.htm
Human Face - Each morning, we confront our faces in the mirror, making adjustments as we see fit. While we are applying eye makeup, we don't think of the 10,000 expressions humans are capable of making. Trimming the excess nose hair, we don't consider that most of us can't tell when someone is lying from their facial signs (secret agents can, but they've been trained to look for the subtleties). When we send email, we can't see each others' faces to pick up on nuances, so we include emoticons, which are representations of faces : ). The BBC does an admirable job discussing all this, and since facial beauty is thought by many to be based on the Golden Ratio, includes a beauty grid to superimpose on a photo of you. The evolution of the face began with the mouth, essential for taking in food, and central to the act of kissing. When we kiss our beloved, we exchange more than affection, it seems. Much more, including fat grams ; D or : P . Rating: 10 out of 10 (25 January 2003) AD
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/humanface/
Collapse: Why do Civilizations Fail? - The reasons behind the demise of past advanced cultures, such as the Anasazi, the Mayas, and the Mesopotamians, undergo scrutiny. In this offering from the Annenberg Foundation/Corporation for Public Broadcasting, clues are presented, and students are encouraged to reach their own conclusions, aided by the use of a journal in which they can enter their thoughts as they progress through the site. Some of these civilizations achieved great wealth and size, yet these factors were not enough to sustain their growth. One of the possibilities involves overfarming and irrigation practices that are compared to the problems confronted by farmers today in California's San Joaquin Valley. Whether history repeats itself or not is a question posed to students, and is perhaps one we grownups should consider as well. Rating: 8 out of 10 (24 December 2002) AD
http://www.learner.org/exhibits/collapse/
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County - Content at museum sites can consist merely of enticements - a brief glimpse of a promising exhibit here, a short description there - it's understandable, but frustrating, especially if a trip there is out of the question. The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County is an exception, and has taken great care to present a meaty overview of their offerings. A searchable database of their enormous fish collection returns a detailed report of your query. There are many images and accounts of invertebrate, vertebrate, and mineral sciences (the best collection of U.S. gems and minerals west of Washington, D.C, so they say), with an extensive anthropological section coming soon.Accounts of ongoing projects, such as the study of marine invertebrates in the British Virgin Islands, are also well done. All the features are easy to access from the site map. Rating: 10 out of 10 (27 August 2002) AD
http://www.nhm.org/
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World - Bodrum, a popular tourist spot in south-west Turkey, boasts one of many 'crusader castles' punctuating the coast. This one is special. Its stone was ransacked from the nearby Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, built over the tomb of King Maussollos in 350 BC. Sculptures and friezes from the site are on display at the British Museum. These fragments, and the Great Pyramid at Giza are all that remain of the original Seven Wonders of the World. The list, which must be the world's most difficult to remember, was compiled by the Ancient Greeks, so it's not surprising that equally impressive contemporary structures such as Stonehenge and Petra, located outside the Mediterranean, were ignored. Essentially wonders of engineering, it's appropriate that this well-researched and informative website is maintained by a professor of that discipline. Also included are lists of Modern and Natural Wonders of the World. The site is an excellent reference, with FAQs and links to archaeological articles and newsgroups, as well as being interesting to read and easy to navigate. Truly 'wonderful'. Rating: 7 out of 10 (1 March 2002) JAS
http://ce.eng.usf.edu/pharos/wonders/
New York's World Trade Center: A Living Archive - In the year 2000, the author of this site, Eric Darton, published a book called Divided We Stand, A Biography of New York's World Trade Center. In Darton's own words, he had the idea that "[his] book would not assume the mantle of a "definitive" work. Rather, [his] goal was to create a useful, well-written and documented book that would also serve as the basis for a much broader exercise in cultural history writing - one that would push beyond the scope of an individual author." This Living Archive offers official account of the building, quotes from famous people about it, tall stories, and a selection of historical pictures of that area of New York, before, during and after the towers were built - particularly poignant now. (5 October 2001) KN
http://ericdarton.net/index.html
Society for Social Studies of Science - This is basically the home site of this non-profit US professional association, whose stated main purpose is to bring together people interested in understanding science and technology, but including the social context. The site itself sums up nicely that its aim is to facilitate communication across conventional boundaries that separate the disciplines and across national boundaries that separate scholars. However, apart from the newsletter that you can download, most of the other material involves either joining the society for $45 (students $22) or subscribing to journals etc. In the newsletter, there are details of the association's annual conference, including calls for papers, together with job opportunities and travel grants. A link to a handbook is not operational but there is a request for ideas for a new one. A site for the professional. (19 September 2001) MDH
http://its2.ocs.lsu.edu/guests/ssss/public_html/
Australian and Asian Palaeoanthropology - For those who study fossilized skulls, this site offers a wealth of images and data, with an emphasis on Australian and Asian examples. The skulls, and in many cases, only the fragments, are presented with details of their condition, and sometimes, a photograph of the dig. For the merely curious, there are fascinating tidbits related to the impact of European culture on indigenous populations. Aborigines had no history of dental caries until the arrival of Europeans, who brought refined carbohydrates. The curious circular wear pattern in some teeth samples is due to the clenching of a pipe stem, another nod to the newcomers. (19 September 2001) AD
http://www-personal.une.edu.au/~pbrown3/palae...
