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Featured Topic: Oil Spills
Humanity's need for natural resources has led to many incredible advances, and many developments have been brought about thanks to these fuels. However, mankind's thirst for these resources have led to many of the World's worst disasters. Oil spills can reek incredible devastation to the environment and the most serious one in American waters, since the Exxon Valdez spill, has been ongoing in the Gulf of Mexico - the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. It is currently the 3rd worst oil spill in history behind the Gulf War oil spill (1991), and the Lakeview Gusher (1910). Although the gusher was contained on the 15th of July, the job of creating a permanent seal still remains. Even though the clean up is begining the impacts of the spill will still be felt for many many years to come. |
Articles from our databases:
View the latest articles from Time Magazine and New Scientist on the oil spill in full text.
Other Websites:
BBC Special Report: Oil and Water
An excellent site devoted to the spill. It has news stories and many interactive maps and slideshows documenting the progress of BP's efforts to contain the spill and the extent to which the spill has reached, all produced by the BBC. Updated Daily.
BP: Gulf of Mexico response
A site run by BP, it documents how many barrels of oil per day are being taken from the broken well. There are also up to date response maps, news reports, and a picture and video gallery documenting BP's response. Updated Daily.
US Fish and wildlife service: Oil Spill response
This site looks at the impact the Oil spill has had on the wildlife in the 36 Wildlife Reserves along the cost of the Gulf of Mexico, so far. Updated Daily.
ifitwasmyhome.com
Uses GPS to work out your location, and superimposes the oil spill over a map of your location/country, so you can really get a feel for how big the spill really is.
Further Reading:
 The squeeze : oil, money and greed in the twenty-first century by Tom Bower."The sensational human story of the hunt for oil, and the politics, power and personalities involved. Over the last 20 years, oil prices have soared from $7 a barrel to $147 and down to $37. Amid economic boom and bust, speculators, traders, politicians and monarchs have plotted to earn fortunes from oil, and prayed for salvation from unpredictable natural and man-made disasters." (Amazon.co.uk) |
 Power trip : from oil wells to solar cells -- our ride to the renewable future by Amanda Little."The inscription on a granite obelisk in Beaumont, Tex., claims: On this spot on the tenth day of the twentieth century, a new era in civilization began. On that scrubby mound of dirt gushed a fountain of oil that sprayed for days, tripled U.S. oil production overnight and set off a frenzy that revolutionized the industrial age. Previously, crude oil and its derivative, kerosene, held little more value than cheap ways to heat and light homes, but as wildcatters, engineers and investors began to conjure how the new fuel could power - and liberate - people, oil grew integral to modern life. Environmental journalist Little picks up during the summer blackout of 2003, when a massive line of electrical cable shorted, leaving six major metropolitan areas without power for days." (Publishers Weekly) |
 Crude world : the violent twilight of oil by Peter Maass."Maass brings fresh detail to a familiar topic in this worrying but never sensationalistic look at the murky world of oil. Supplies of the resource may already have entered a period of rapid decline, with Saudi Arabia, long the world's largest oil producer, possibly passing the peak point of production just as demand from China surges. Maass exposes the staggering destruction oil has wrought in countries less well-known as energy suppliers. The author recounts how the greed of Western oil companies, governments and consumers have propped up such vicious and corrupt dictatorships as that in Equatorial Guinea, where flights run nonstop from the destitute capital to Texas." (Publishers Weekly) |
For more articles please visit our mygateway.info Science databases
Recent science books
(for the latest science books every month, click here)
 A Brief History of the Universe, by J.P. McEvoy."Since the dawn of humanity, men have attempted to divine the nature of the heavens. The first astronomers mapped the movement of the seasons and used the positions of the constellations for augurs and astrology. Today, the search goes ever deeper into the nature of reality and life itself. In this accessible overview, astrophysicist J. P. McEvoy tells the story of how our knowledge of the cosmos has developed, beginning with Stonehenge and ending with the current debate on String Theory. He puts in context many of the greatest discoveries of all time and many of the dominant personalities: Aristotle, Copernicus, and Isaac Newton, and as we approach the modern era, Einstein, Eddington, and Hawking. McEvoy’s own argument is that astronomy is a science of observation and experiment rather than models and mathematics, and that much of current thinking is too reliant on unprovable conjecture. This controversial belief informs a colourful and fascinating account." (Amazon) |
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 The elements : a visual exploration of every known atom in the universe, by Theodore Gray ; photographs by Theodore Gray and Nick Mann.."The elements are what we, and everything around us, are made of. But how many elements has anyone actually seen in pure, uncombined form? The Elements provides this rare opportunity. Based on five years of research and photography, the pictures in this book make up the most complete, and visually arresting, representation available to the naked eye of every atom in the universe. Organized in order of appearance on the periodic table, each element is represented by a spread that includes a stunning, full-page, full-color photograph that most closely represents it in its purest form. For example, at -183˚C, oxygen turns from a colorless gas to a beautiful pale blue liquid." (Amazon) |
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finding science books in the library
| 500 | Natural sciences |
| 510 | Maths |
| 520 | Astronomy |
| 530 | Physics |
| 540 | Chemistry |
| 550 | Earth Sciences |
| 560 | Paleontology |
| 570 | Life sciences |
| 580 | Botany |
| 590 | Zoology |
| 600 | Applied Sciences & Technology |
| 610 | Medicine |
| 620 | Engineering & Electronics |
At Central Library, science books are on the 1st floor. If in doubt, search the catalogue; if you need further assistance, ask one of our library staff members next time you visit or email us.
biographies
If you want a biography of a scientist, the library catalogue will give you the location. Here are some selected biographies grouped by specialisation:
botanists | zoologists | astronomers | paleontologists | physicists | women in science | Gale Biography Resource Center
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magazines
Science magazines are held on the 1st floor of Central Library, and all branches have a small collection of popular titles. You can search for articles in our mygateway.info science databases. We keep back-issues of many magazines, eg Scientific American (1878-1908, 1927- ).
databases & science mags online
We have many science magazines available for full text reading online through mygateway.info.
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websitesNew Zealand | General | Women and Science | Meteorology Earthquakes | Volcanoes | Astronomy | Science can be Fun! |
Featured websites:
The BBC Science Portal Revamped, Now Available
"The science portal from the BBC has received a makeover. You can find it at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/. One section that remains available is Lab UK. Here users can, "participate in groundbreaking scientific experiments online." In this BBC Internet Blog post, you'll read how Lab UK is working with University College London and Stanford University to, to test whether the internet has changed the physiology of our brains." (BBC Internet Blog)
general:
mygateway.info Science: Our information gateway to reliable information on the Net relating to Science, including our subscriber databases.
Science Daily: Breaking news about the latest discoveries and hottest research projects in everything from astrophysics to zoology.
SciTech Daily: Links to science-related articles from around the Internet
Intute: The UK gateway to Science, Engineering and Technology. It covers the physical sciences, engineering, computing, geography, mathematics and environmental science.
Environmental Ethics: Directory of unannotated links to general environmental ethics Web resources.
The Why Files: The science behind today's news headlines.
Smithsonian Institution: Science & Technology
Yahoo! Science and Biology
Google Directory: Biology and Botany
New Zealand birds
WebElements Periodic Table
UNC Minerals in thin section - minerals under a microscope and their different optical properties.
new zealand:
Te Puna Web Directory - New Zealand Science & Technology
IndexNZ.com science links
GNS Science
Latest NZ earthquake
NIWA: National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research
women and science:
Women-Related Web Sites in Science/Technology
science can be fun!:
Live chemistry
Insanely great science websites
Who is Sue? The world's largest and best preserved T.Rex
HotAIR" Tidbits from the Annals of Improbable Research (AIR), featuring winners of the annual Ig Nobel Prize for "for achievements that cannot or should not be reproduced."
World Flood Map: Raise sea level up to 14m and see if your house gets flooded
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meteorology:
MetVUW, weather and climate service
World sunlight map
List of all online weather stations in the country.
Weather Underground: Provides global weather forcasts and much more..
earthquakes:
Kidscat Earthquakes
Library material on earthquakes
New Zealand - general information
Geonet: Find out about the latest New Zealand earthquake and information on New Zealand Volcanoes
IRIS - Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology
New Zealand: Earth Sciences
volcanoes:
US Geological Survey Volcano Hazards Program
Current volcano activity
USGS: FAQ about volcanoes
Kidscat Volcanoes
astronomy:
Astronomy magazine
NASA
NASA: Image gallery
Observing the sky blog
Astonomy New Zealand
Downloadable sky maps
360 Sky map of Northern Germany. Controls are in German, but are very easy to work out.
Our own Kids Catalogue Web has great links to our science books and recommended websites
dvds & videos
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