Britannica vs. Wikipedia (Nature, 12/15)

From Internet encyclopaedias go head to head, in this week’s Nature:

However, an expert-led investigation carried out by Nature — the first to use peer review to compare Wikipedia and Britannica’s coverage of science — suggests that such high-profile examples are the exception rather than the rule.

The exercise revealed numerous errors in both encyclopaedias, but among 42 entries tested, the difference in accuracy was not particularly great: the average science entry in Wikipedia contained around four inaccuracies; Britannica, about three.

The article also acknowledges some of the problems of Wikipedia, notably the false article about John Seigenthaler.

See also: Challenges of being a Wikipedian and Wiki’s wild world (”read Wikipedia cautiously and amend it enthusiastically”)

RSS Feeds: American Chemical Society Journals

RSS feeds are now available for all of ACS journals. You’ll want to use this master list to select your feeds, as there are currently no URL’s to the feeds on the journal homepages. Once you’ve added a feed to your RSS reader, it will be updated when: 1) a new Article ASAP is posted online, with a link to that article; and 2) a new issue for that journal is available, with a link to the table of contents.

For more information on using RSS, please contact the Chemistry Librarian.

Physics Professors Profiled in Smithsonian

2 UCSD Physics professors were profiled in the November 2005 issue of Smithsonian Magazine, celebrating the magazine’s 35th anniversary:

• Margaret Burbridge - article
• Sally Ride - article

National Academies Press: New E-Books

Some new e-books from National Academies Press. All of them are freely available for browsing, searching and printing (though most of them can only be printed out one page at a time).

Computer Science
+ Network Science
+ Catalyzing Inquiry at the Interface of Computing and Biology

Education & Policy
+ America’s Lab Report: Investigations in High School Science
+ Enhancing the Community College Pathway to Engineering Careers
+ Science and Technology in the National Interest: Ensuring the Best Presidential and Federal Advisory Committee Science and Technology Appointments
+ Sensor Systems for Biological Agent Attacks: Protecting Buildings and Military Bases

Engineering
+ Engineering Research and America’s Future: Meeting the Challenges of a Global Economy
+ The National Academies Keck Futures Initiative Designing Nanostructures at the Interface between Biomedical and Physical Systems: Conference Focus Group Summaries

Materials Science
+ Globalization of Materials R&D: Time for a National Strategy
+ Going to Extremes: Meeting the Emerging Demand for Durable Polymer Matrix Composites

Space Science
+ Bioastronautics Roadmap: A Risk Reduction Strategy for Human Exploration of Space
+ Preventing the Forward Contamination of Mars

New Book Lists: New & Improved

We have recently updated how we run our new book lists to give you a more accurate listing of the new books we have in the S&E Library. It does not include books that are on order or still in processing (books at the bindery are still on the list, but you can place requests on these titles to be held for you when they arrive).

The lists can be accessed from our homepage, in the lower right column under New to S&E Collections. We are running 2 lists: one for Engineering, the other for Physical Sciences (general science, computer science, math, astronomy, physics and chemistry). Each one is sorted by call number.

Science in the Web Age (from Nature)

This week’s issue of Nature includes a series of news articles on the changing web (blogs, wikis, search engines, etc.) and its impact on scientific research and communication.

• Science in the web age: The expanding electronic universe
• Science in the web age: Joint efforts
• Science in the web age: The real death of print
• Science in the web age: Start your engines