the best of 7

There are some people that think that the study of science is the domain of the super-intelligent geek. Our first site today, Noisenet, sets out to prove these people wrong with a very modern approach to discussing complicated theories. NOISE, or New Outlooks In Science and Engineering, is a UK campaign funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. It says its aim is to raise awareness of science and engineering among young people by making these subjects more relevant and accessible, and if you ask me it does an excellent job of bringing the 'cool' back, or at least attempting to introduce it, into lab-coat wearing. Part of the National Grid for Learning, this website brings the subject of science alive, for youngsters and oldies alike. The approach is really refreshing and makes this information very easy to digest. It contains articles that look at the connection between the frozen Gobi desert and a bowl of ice cream, or how scientists are unravelling the secrets of insect and bird flight to produce a new weapon for the spying game. Each article starts with a short and concise summary, allowing you to decide if you want to get more in-depth commentary on the subject by clicking the Read More button. You'll also find the usual sign of a well thought out website, the Print this Page button, which feeds your printer with an ink friendly version of the article to take home and keep. It's the little things that count for me. I know, I'm easily pleased!

Another way to keep me happy for hours is to put me in front of a website about words. Fun With Words may look a bit hectic on the surface but if you can get past the busyness of the pages you'll learn plenty new and surprising things about words. From anagrams to pangrams, and spoonerisms to rhyming slang, it seems that every strange or quirky nuance about our language is explored here. The etymology section uncovers the roots of some of those words and expression that often get speculated over at dinner parties, like 'raining cats and dogs' to describe a torrential downpour. I was fascinated to read all about 'Tom Swifties', a form of Wellerism, in which an adverb relates both properly and punningly to a sentence. Sounds complicated, I know, but it's all explained with examples on the site.

How much do you know about your heart? We all know that they pump oxygen-rich blood around our circulatory systems, and that a careless love affair can result in them being broken, but if you want to get to the bottom of the medical facts surrounding this vital internal organ then the Open Heart website, created by the Columbus Medical Association, is an excellent place to start. This simple yet comprehensive guide steps you easily through every aspect of how your heart works, and how best to keep it healthy. Using intuitive menus and flash animation, you can interact with the website to build a human heart and find out what makes it tick - quite literally. It's packed with fascinating facts, such as how much blood is pumped through a healthy heart in an average lifetime, and some great advice on how to avoid heart disease, or what to expect if you're referred to a heart specialist in hospital. You can even perform a virtual ByPass operation in the surgery section. It might seem a little morbid to some, but if you are experiencing problems with your heart, knowing exactly what will be going on when you're on the operating table can be a huge comfort to both the patient and their relatives.

Sticking with the medical theme our next website covers a broader spectrum of health education issues, again using simple language and flash animation to explain some of the most complex procedures and conditions you might encounter. Like the previous website, Medline Plus tutorials are written for an American audience, but can obviously be applied to anyone. Make your selection from the list of topics and then follow the on-screen prompts to travel through the tutorial, with exercises inserted periodically to ensure you're absorbing the facts. An audio track reads the text along with you, which can slow the loading time right down, especially if you're using a narrowband connection - but this feature could be really useful for the visually impaired, and can be turned off at any time.

With so many reports on the news just lately about earthquakes and other natural disasters around the globe, some people may be wondering just how they would cope if disaster struck. Disaster Help aims to provide comfort in times of crisis by offering practical advice and information about how you can prepare for, and then deal with, the unthinkable happening to you. Drawing on information compiled by organisations such as the American Red Cross, the site covers everything from hurricanes and flash floods, to droughts and acts of terror. Each section attempts to help you avoid the worst effects of a disaster, and on some pages - for example, those dealing with earthquakes - there's even real-time data available to let you know where and when an event is expected to take place. There's so much more to this website that it's really worth taking a browse, but please don't expect a definitive answer about whether a disaster might befall you because no website can tell you that. And don't worry too much either, life's too precious to waste time worrying about what might happen!

On a lighter note, what better way to wind down after a hard day's web browsing than with a bit of music? Essentials of Music is a really nicely presented website detailing the leading works and influences during six main periods of music history - the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Twentieth Century. You can browse these distinctive eras at your leisure, listening to excerpts from around 200 classic tunes, or look up the biographies of nearly 70 influential composers to find out about their most famous works and where they fit in to the timeline of musical development. It's fair to say that this website has been produced by a leading music publisher, and if you click through the links far enough you will inevitably come to a page where you can buy the music that you're learning about, but you don't have to make a purchase, or indeed divulge any of your personal information, to enjoy the full extent of the website's resources.

If, like me, you were disappointed to hear about the problems that Beagle 2 had making contact from Mars, and the new difficulties the American Rover is suffering, then our first site today should help ease the pain a little, with a virtual tour around an area of science fiction that could one day become fact. Explore Mars Now is part of an on-going educational project that aims to inspire learning about space sciences and technology through a web-based simulator that presents plausible concepts for a near future Mars mission and habitat. Using cutting edge graphics and interactive environments, this site has drawn on the knowledge of experts from around the world to create a tantalisingly realistic picture of how humans might one day begin to colonize this hostile planet. You can explore by clicking the active areas on the main image, or by using the navigation bar on the left hand side of the screen to jump to a particular area of the base. Hovering your mouse pointer over various sections within the base will reveal pop-up boxes explaining the technology that might be used to make the whole thing work, and there's additional information for the fact-hungry explorer under the Mars Facts link at the bottom of the navigation panel.

If your desire for knowledge is a little more down-to-earth then our next site, History World, offers a trip through the ages that will be a breath of fresh air compared to those dusty old texts books I was made to read in school. The website's mission statement is to 'make history make sense', and as someone who completed their education without ever really developing an interest in historical events I found this collection of facts and articles, and the way they're all linked together, to be a real eye opener. The Timelines section allows you to explore the events of the past in chronological order, and the related stories links can really help bring into perspective the way certain events have affected world history. You can even choose to create your own timelines taking in various historical vistas along the way. Admittedly a few more pictures would have made the whole thing more aesthetically appealing, but the texts are well written and nicely presented and there's even the option to print out the pages you're interested in so that you can absorb them in your own time offline.

Alan Collier sent his web address in for anyone who wants to know anything about TV-cards. If you're sitting there wondering what exactly a TV-card is, it's a card that allows you to receive a TV signal on your PC. But you definitely need to click through to TV-Cards, as the technology and its practical applications are explained far better than that in Alan's article 'What is a TV-card?' Once you've decided if you want one for yourself, check out his honest, no frills reviews of some of the top products on the market to help you decide which option is best for you, and then explore further to read articles and advice on how to set-up, troubleshoot, and get the most out of your system. As usual with this kind of site, the message boards are a really good place to pick up additional hints and tips from people who live, breathe and sleep TV-card technology. You can also discuss your own personal experiences and opinions, thereby adding your own special brand of expertise to the mix.

FINLAND

Finland.fi
Virtual Finland
eFinland
Finland Travelcams
High Tech Finland
Helsinki Sanomat
Finnish Sauna Society