·http://www.densitydesign.org

DensityDesign, a Research Lab at Politecnico de Milano, has mastered the art of visually presenting variegated social and organizational phenomena. As the site suggests, by "rearranging numeric data, reinterpreting qualitative information, locating information geographically, and building visual taxonomies, we can...describe and unveil the hidden connections in complex systems." From the homepage, readers may explore a host of interesting visualizations, including representations of sonic environments, Wikipedia controversies, and Cesarean sections. The Research tab opens to further fascinating projects, while the Blog examines the various methods Density Designs utilizes in their visualization work. For readers who love eye-popping graphs and models that contribute to the understanding of complex information, this site is sure to inspire. [CNH]

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·http://zoo.sandiegozoo.org/animals

The San Diego Zoo is home to hundreds of different exotic animals, from anacondas and meerkats to dung beetles and giant pandas. With the zoo's animal finder, located on its website, students can locate and easily research the animals that fascinate them. There are several convenient ways to scout the site. Readers may proceed alphabetically, by scrolling through the photographs of amur leopards and zebras. Readers may also like to search by category, such as Africa Rocks or Australian Outback. In addition, the site hosts an Animal Name Quick Search for locating specific species. Selecting any animal will link to useful information. For instance, at up to 10 feet long and 176 pounds, the Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard species with ancestors dating back more than 100 million years. [CNH]

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·http://www.bodyworlds.com/en/exhibitions/free_materials.html

Body Worlds, first presented in Tokyo in 1995, is an exhibition of preserved human bodies and body parts. The bodies on display have been preserved using plastination, a process that was invented by the show's curator, German anatomist Gunther von Hagens, in 1977. While the exhibit is designed to be seen in person, there are several interesting resources on this website for teachers, parents, and families. Readers can start with either the Student Guide or the Family Guide (available in PDF format), then peruse each guide for an excellent overview of the exhibition, with photographs and text that introduce the reader to the locomotive, nervous, respiratory, cardiovascular, and digestive systems of the human body. For any educator or parent teaching anatomy, this is a resource that brings the subject to life. [CNH]

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·http://www.internationalbreastfeedingjournal.com

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), "If every child was breastfed within an hour of birth, given only breast milk for their first six months of life, and continued breastfeeding up to the age of two years, about 800,000 child lives would be saved every year." The International Breastfeeding Journal, which is open access and free to anyone, publishes the latest research on breastfeeding and all its health-related, psychological, sociological, and even anthropological impacts. Recent articles have included a qualitative study on the implementation of a new initiative in an Australian hospital, a cross-sectional study of Ethiopian mothers who breastfeed, and a commentary on breastfeeding in public. With hundreds of articles online, the International Breastfeeding Journal is a great resource for anyone interested in this fundamental health practice. [CNH]

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·http://www.loc.gov/rr/record/nrpb/registry/nrpb-2013reg.html

Every year, the National Recording Preservation Board selects 25 recordings that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." They must also be at least 10 years old. With the library's 2013 selection, the number of items in the registry reached a total of 400. The picks are as diverse as they are fascinating, ranging from the 1915 Broadway musical, "They Didn't Believe Me," to U2's breakthrough rock album, "The Joshua Tree." Each recording is accompanied by an annotation explaining the cultural and historical significance of the selection. For instance, George Washington Johnson was the first African American to make commercial records. His 1896 recording, "The Laughing Song," was his best known song, and it is bound to make readers smile. [CNH]

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·http://schoolofopen.p2pu.org

The School of Open offers free online courses, face-to-face workshops, and training programs on topics that loosely gather around the subject of openness - in education, research, and science. Typical topics include Creative Commons licenses (what they are and how to use them), open educational resources, and how to utilize and share creative works. Interested readers can register for Facilitated courses (Creative Commons for K-12 Educators) or Stand-alone courses (Get CC Savvy) that allow students to work through the material at their own pace. Training Programs are offered in Spanish, English, Chinese, and other languages. Readers may also volunteer to design and run their own courses through the site. [CNH]

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·http://www.teachinghistory100.org

Teaching History with 100 Objects may be funded by the United Kingdom's Department of Education, but the resources available on the website will be useful to educators the world over. The 100 objects in question consist of historically significant Irish posters, English canons, Chinese tea pots, Viking scales, and many other fascinating objects. The site can be scouted in a number of convenient ways. Readers can search by topics, dates, places, or themes, or simply select an image from the homepage to get started. Each object is accompanied by a brief annotation, as well as additional categories, such as About the object, A bigger picture, Teaching ideas, and For the Classroom. Each category is packed with information, ideas, and suggestions for bringing history to life. [CNH]

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·http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/90272

When Kansas became the 34th state on January 29th, 1861 it was this document, the Wyandotte Constitution, that was implemented as its charter. The document was not without controversy, as proslavery and antislavery movements sparred over provisions in the text. In fact, the Wyandotte Constitution was the fourth constitution written during what became known as the Bleeding Kansas era, a period noted for its fiery political feuds. The constitution can be read in its (somewhat faded) original form on the Kansas Historical Society's website. It can also be read in a full text version, shared, printed, or "saved to bookbag" if readers have an account. [CNH]

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·http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/footprint/climate_carbon_energy/energy_solutions22/renewable_energy/sustainable_energy_report/

Published in 2011, The Energy Report from WWF makes a bold claim - that the world can be run entirely on sustainable energy by 2050. The Report also claims that the transition will not only be possible, but cost-effective as we already have most of the technology necessary to do it. The scenario will also contribute to equitable access to resources. The 256-page report can be downloaded in full from the web site. In addition, The Energy Report Summary Booklet, which outlines the points in 20 pages, can also be downloaded. For those who just want the main points, they are available on the WWF website. Although the ideas in the report are nearly five years old, they are still provocative and constitute a worthy read for anyone interested in energy policy. [CNH]

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·http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/

NPR's The Salt is an extraordinarily entertaining food blog with an eye toward "food news from the farm to the plate and beyond." The site updates daily. Recent articles have covered such topics as faux fish made from plants, an investment fund that is bankrolling environmentally sustainable fish farming, and a debate about whether oranges or orange juice are more nutritious. The articles are fresh and punchy, highlighting the simultaneous seriousness and absurdity of food and food culture in sparkling prose. [CNH]

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·http://www.journaltocs.hw.ac.uk/

Current Awareness Services have been published by libraries for a long time. They usually include new books, table of contents alerts, blogs, citation alerts, and other information. JournalTOCs builds on the idea by offering tables of contents (TOCs) for the newest issues of thousands of academic journals via this free website. Readers may type in the name of any journal in the search function on the homepage to access that journal's latest table of contents. They may also browse by publishers and subjects. For librarians, students, and scholars who want to keep up to date on the breaking research in their field, this is a valuable resource. [CNH]

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·http://www.walkerart.org/magazine/

The Walker Art Center, with its emphasis on performance and community engagement, is one of the country's most progressive and groundbreaking museums. It is no surprise, then, that the art center’s magazine presents a wealth of intriguing content, often drawn from other sources around the web. Recent featured articles have focused on the winners of the 2015 Joyce Awards, profiled Ava DuVernay, the director of the Oscar-nominated film, Selma, and examined Putin’s crackdown on artistic expression in Russia. The magazine can be scouted through a search function or by categories such as Art News from Elsewhere, Articles, Blogs, and Slideshows. In this last section, a delightful collection - Opening the Road Box - showcases a collection of artifacts related to Merce Cunningham and his dance company who prodded, problematized, and reinvented the world of modern dance for over 50 years. [CNH]

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·http://codice.manuvo.com/inicio.php?lang=english

Before the Spanish invaded what is now Mexico, the pre-Hispanic cultures of that region used codices - "pictorial and iconic documents" - to preserve and transmit their histories, cultures, and values. This website is a digital resource providing close study of a Mexican Codex, with its pictures, maps, lineage lists, mathematics, and other conceptual expressions. Readers may want to start by reading the Introduction, housed under the About Tab, that describes the history and nature of Mexican Codices. Once situated, explore the document itself by clicking the Codex tab. Perhaps the most engaging feature of this site is the Transcription option found here. By selecting the first icon on the left hand side of the page, readers need only hover over the text to read a translation of this fascinating lens into the past. The transcription is available in English and Spanish and a full text option is also available. [CNH]

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·http://site.nomore.org

When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported in 2010 that nearly one in five (18.3%) adult women in the United States had been raped at some point in their lives, many people were shocked. Nomore.org, a public awareness campaign, seeks to bring that number down to zero by breaking social stigma, normalizing conversation about sexual assault and domestic violence, and increasing resources for prevention efforts. Readers may want to start by watching the videos of NFL players and other celebrities speaking out against sexual assault, or perhaps read "10 Questions About Sexual Assault You Were too Embarrassed to Ask," an approachable and research-based educational article. Click on the tab The Latest to peruse the various articles, videos, and interviews from No More's archives. [CNH]

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·http://www.burgess-shale.rom.on.ca

The Burgess Shale, protected in Canada's Yoho National Park, preserves one of the world's first complex marine ecosystems. The site was discovered in 1909 by paleontologist Charles Walcott and has produced some of the most interesting soft fossils in history. On the website, readers may scout the informative Introduction, and then move on to the Science and History sections, which describe in details the significance of the fossil findings at the Burgess Shale. The Fossil Gallery, with its dozens of photographs of specimens from the site, is another great place to begin. Of special interest, the Virtual Sea Odyssey allows visitors to experience life in the ancient ocean "first hand." The site is available in both English and French. [CNH]

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·http://buildinginspector.nypl.org

The landscape of New York City has always been in constant flux. To keep track of the city as it changes, the New York Public library has been amassing thousands of historical street atlases over decades, "making those lost places findable." The website invites motivated amateurs to take the digitized, computer-generated amalgams of these old maps, and "test drive" them. In other words, readers are invited to walk around New York and take stock of what computers have generated, making sure that the models are accurate. The process is based on a consensus model: if more than three people agree that the generated map is accurate, then it is recorded as such. Hence, the New York Public Library plans to digitally generate and virtually crowd source a brand new map of Old New York. [CNH]

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·http://www.swiperadioapp.com

SwipeRadio makes it possible to listen to your favorite radio stations on your iPhone. Upon opening, the app will ask you to identify your location, from which you may choose stations. Stations can also be chosen from 50,000 possibilities around the country and the world, and searched by keyword as well. It's a great alternative for listening to your favorite radio stations on the go. Currently designed for iPad and iPhone running iOS 7.0+. [CNH]

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·http://www.lingua.ly

There are an abundance of language learning programs on the market. Few of them, however, take advantage of the world wide web. Lingua.ly seeks to do just that. So far it is offered in English, Spanish, French, and Hebrew with the option to learn one of nine other languages. After first creating a free account, readers can start by learning vocabulary. Once that is accomplished, the program starts to recommend websites that are at the learner's reading level. In this manner, the web becomes a language learning facility. [CNH]

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Asteroid That Hurtled Past Earth Has a Miniature Moon
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/asteroid-hurtled-past-earth-has-miniature-moon-n294621

Best ever view of asteroid Ceres
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-31009791

Solar System Exploration: Asteroids: Overview
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Asteroids

Huff Post: Asteroids
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/asteroid/

The Age of Asteroids
http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/age-asteroids

Asteroids: between a rock and a hard place
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/sep/20/asteroids-rock-hard-place-meteor-strike-russia-nicaragua

NASA and asteroids were in the news this week as the 1,100-foot wide Asteroid 2004 BL86 hurtled past Earth on Monday. Days before it neared, Joseph Pollock of Appalachian State University and Petr Pravec of the Ondrejov Observatory discovered that the asteroid has its own 230-foot moon. Scientists were able to grab amazing images of the space rock and its tiny moon using NASA's Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, California. Also this week, NASA's Dawn spacecraft delivered groundbreaking pictures of Ceres, which, at a diameter of 950 kilometers, is the largest known asteroid in our solar system. These images, with a resolution exceeding anything seen by telescopes, suggest the previously identified "white spot" in Ceres' Northern Hemisphere is likely a large impact crater on the surface of the asteroid. [CNH]

The first two links offer coverage of the asteroids 2004 BL86 and Ceres, respectively. The third link navigates to NASA's excellent overview of asteroids, including 10 Need-to-Know Things About Asteroids, while the fourth link opens to several years of the Huffington Post's coverage of asteroids. Fifth, readers may peruse The Age of Asteroids, a New Yorker article in which journalist Jonathan Blitzer examines the dangers - and the possible economic boons - of near-earth asteroids. Lastly, Tom Lamont explores what governments are doing to protect the earth from the one million or so "city-killer" asteroids in our solar system.