Census of Marine Life, Open Access Gem

Following on the open access and marine themes of the past few weeks, the Census of Marine Life is a terrific open access resource.

The census, carried out over ten years, was an impressively massive effort involving:

A DECADE OF DISCOVERY
2,700 scientists
80+ nations
540 expeditions
US$ 650 million
2,600+ scientific publications
6,000+ potential new species
28 million distribution records and counting

Much of the census research is freely available in different forms on the site, including research articles published in PLoS ONE. The site is a treasure trove that yields new and fascinating information with each visit.

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Photo Blog Gives Snapshot of the Day’s News Around World

In May, The Boston Globe launched a photo blog called The Big Picture: News Stories in Photographs. The photo essays are visually stunning and cover a range of stories from the Chaiten Volcano to World Environment Day to life in Afghanistan, and much more. Each photo series is followed by links to additional information on the topic, and visitors can leave comments.

It’s a terrific site and worth visiting often or adding to your RSS reader.

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