Digital Spotlight: Expeditions & Discoveries

EXPEDITIONS & DISCOVERIES is an open collection from Harvard University Library focusing on exploration and scientific discovery in the modern age.

Contents: Spanning 1626 to 1953, this collection features historical resources in the areas of anthropology, archaeology, astronomy, botany, geography, geology, medicine, oceanography, and zoology. Users can search by discipline or region.

Classroom Connections: Teachers will find this collection to be an interesting way to connect science with history. Use a specific expedition to jumpstart a discussion of scientific discovery.

Featured Digital Objects:
Albatross Pacific Expeditions http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/expeditions/albatross.html
Peabody South American Expedition http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/expeditions/peabody.html

To visit the collection, go to http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/expeditions/.

Technology Review: Midomi

MIDOMI is a music website with an audio search tool, exploration options, and a singing feature.

Users can either do a word search for an artist, song, or album. One of the most interesting aspects of this music tool is the ability to “sing or hum” a tune. Simply sing or hum at least second seconds of a song like “you are my sunshine” and it identifies places on the web where that song is available. The website also contains a section where users can explore a wide variety of music by genre or language. Finally, users can try their skills at singing with the Studio Tool.

Librarians will find that young singers will enjoy the singing and humming options available. Teachers may find it a useful tool for locating specific songs or music in particular genre.

This music search and discovery tool is also available as an app called SoundHound.

To visit the website, go to http://www.midomi.com/.
To download the app, go to http://www.soundhound.com/soundhound.

Book Review: Radioactive

RADIOACTIVE: HOW IRENE CURIE AND LISE MEITNER REVOLUTIONIZED SCIENCE AND CHANGED THE WORLD by Winifred Conkling tells the true story of two women who made significant contributions to science.

This important biography traces the often overlooked role of two female physicists who made major discoveries related to artificial radiation and nuclear fission. The story stresses the challenges facing female scientists in the 20th century.

Informational boxes provide related scientific background text and visuals. Although photographs and other illustrations add interest to the text, additional primary sources would have been useful. The book concludes with a timeline, glossary, notes, bibliography, additional sources, and an index.

Librarians will find this engaging nonfiction narrative to be an excellent addition to the library’s STEM biography collection. The focus on women’s roles will be particularly popular with middle school girls.

To learn more about the author, go to http://www.winifredconkling.com/.

Published by Algonquin, an imprint of Workman Publishing on January 5, 2016. ARC courtesy of the publisher.