Biologists deploy antibodies to track wandering proteins, to fish enzymes out of molecular mixtures, and to perform a slew of other lab tasks. But to scientists' frustration, commercially available antibodies don't work in every situation. Find out which antibodies researchers have become attached to by visiting this Web site created by postdoc Guobin He of the University of California, San Diego. Opened last fall, the site collects experts' ratings of some 250 antibodies, including ones that target the androgen receptor and the cancer-fighting protein p53. So far, He and his colleagues have provided most of the evaluations, but users can also record their praise for--or gripes about--particular products.

Volume 316, Number 5833, Issue of 29 June 2007

From sickly Tiny Tim in Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol to the disfigured character in the movie The Elephant Man, illness and its consequences have preoccupied writers, painters, and filmmakers. The Literature, Arts, and Medicine Database aims to help students use these works to understand disease, health care, and the social issues they raise.

The site from the New York University School of Medicine catalogs hundreds of films, paintings, novels, and other titles with medical connections. Tuberculosis, AIDS, and mental illness have drawn plenty of interest over the years; diabetes and arthritis, much less. Commentaries by guest scholars elucidate works such as Vincent van Gogh's painting of the mental asylum where he spent much of his final year of life. The barren hallway--the only figure is fleeing--reflects his isolation during his illness.

Volume 316, Number 5832, Issue of 22 June 2007

The classic literature in botany dates back to the early days of the printing press. Check out some of these hoary texts at Botanicus, an online library run by the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis. The site features digitized versions of almost 200 titles published between 1480 and 1935 on plant systematics. You'll find works by German explorer Alexander von Humboldt, Harvard botanist Asa Gray, and Joseph Hooker, Darwin's confidant and defender. Many texts feature lavish illustrations, such as this painting of the water lemon (Passiflora laurifolia), which comes from a 19th century series that catalogs exotic plants in British gardens.

Volume 316, Number 5831, Issue of 15 June 2007

Those plucky penguins--already passé. Whales and polar bears--just fads. But dinosaurs have kept their scaly grip our imaginations. The new DinoBase from the University of Bristol in the U.K. offers plenty of information for everyone from dino dabblers to devotees who want to check whether there's such an animal as "Elvisaurus." (There isn't.) A database holds vital statistics--such as length, weight, and time span--for several hundred dinosaur species, including Stygimoloch spinifer (above), a 3-meter-long herbivore from what is now Montana. Its elaborate headgear might have served as a weapon or as a lure for mates. Visitors can tour a gallery of dino art or dig into the site's forum for announcements of fresh finds and the latest on current debates, such as whether commercial fossil hunters hurt or help paleontology.

Volume 316, Number 5828, Issue of 25 May 2007

In an early Drosophila embryo, the cell nuclei twirl and divide with the impeccable synchrony of dancers in a Hollywood musical. A lengthwise cut through two sperm tails shows mitochondria lined up like kernels in an ear of corn. Those are a couple of the highlights from this gallery hosted by the American Society for Cell Biology in Bethesda, Maryland.

The videos and electron micrographs have all been peer-reviewed to make sure they are scientifically valuable. Included are descriptions of what they illustrate and how they were taken. The gallery boasts a slew of historic shots from society founders such as the Romanian-American scientist George Palade, now 94, who shared a 1974 Nobel Prize for helping to reveal the internal structure and workings of the cell. Curator David Ennist encourages other biologists to contribute footage and images.

Volume 316, Number 5822, Issue of 13 April 2007

By the late 1700s, scientists had categorized more than 4000 species of animals. Often tucked away in out-of-print publications, these early descriptions can be difficult for modern researchers to hunt down. AnimalBase from the University of Göttingen in Germany opens up the classic taxonomic literature.

The library stores or links to digitized versions of more than 700 books and papers, some from as far back as the 1550s. Along with a stack of works by Carolus Linnaeus, the Swedish botanist who reformed taxonomy in the 1700s, the holdings include lesser-known contributions such as the 1768 treatise by the Austrian naturalist Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti that describes the true toads (Bufo). To help visitors track down the first use of a particular scientific name, curators have begun combing the texts for mentions of species and other taxonomic groups.

Volume 315, Number 5819, Issue of 23 March 2007

Webs of interconnected proteins and genes keep cells running. To explore these networks, visit BioGRID from molecular biologist Michael Tyers of the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute in Toronto, Canada, and colleagues.

Stowed here are all known genetic and protein interactions in budding yeast, along with partial lists for humans, nematodes, and fruit flies--more than 167,000 associations in all. Curators glean data from the literature and update the collection monthly. Each entry maps the liaisons of a particular protein or gene and summarizes the experimental evidence for each association. Included is the interaction network for the enzyme Cdc14, which controls the exit from mitosis.

Volume 315, Number 5817, Issue of 09 March 2007

With reefs under threat from pollution, coral-breaking fishing nets, diseases, climate change, and a host of other causes, keeping an eye on their environment is ever more important. The Coral Health and Monitoring Program from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration provides baseline atmospheric and oceanic data for reefs in the United States and the Caribbean. The site connects to two monitoring networks. One offers hourly readings of air temperature, wind speed, and other variables for eight Florida reefs; the other collects data on additional features such as salinity and light levels at different wavelengths and depths.

Volume 314, Number 5805, Issue of 08 December 2006