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Reviews and Resources
Biological Soil Crusts is a website associated with the Canyon Country Ecosystem Research Site (CCERS) that introduces the ecology and importance of biological crusts in arid ecosystem environments. One of the site's advantages is its compactness; it was extremely easy to navigate. The site has five major components that are easy to read and access: Crust 101, Advanced Information, Picture Gallery, References, CCERS Site, and Links.
Crust 101 is the most immediately useful of the components. It introduces the nomenclature, structure and formation, species composition, and ecological function of biological crusts in detail that is suitable for the introductory biology student. The pictures embedded in the text, and also repeated in the picture gallery, do a good job of illustrating the material, although some pictures do not clearly illustrate what their captions suggest. One drawback to the text is that it does not contain any references to further investigate the subject material. The references section itself is an exhaustive bibliography on the topics of biological crusts, cyanobacteria, mosses, and lichens, which is organized by author. Consequently, it is not particularly easy to locate information on a specific topic. The advanced information section has a link to a downloadable PDF file on research into biological crusts. Several links are available to other relevant sites such as soil/biology soil crusts, cyanobacteria, and lichens. Some of these links are not functional and some have been temporarily taken out of service, but they generally provide a good avenue to obtain more specific information on the topic.
The site provides a good general introduction to biological crusts without going into significant detail. It will be useful to the neophyte but not to the more advanced student. Unfortunately, the site itself was last updated in December 1999, although it links to other websites that are more recent.
Mark Coyne
University of Kentucky, LexingtonCornell Center for Fungal Biology
The Cornell Center for Fungal Biology site was established to showcase fungi of the Lindsay-Parsons Biodiversity Preserve Project (a collaborative project of Schering-Plough Corp, Cornell University, and conservationists). The project is providing researchers access to the ~400-acre Lindsay-Parsons Biodiversity Preserve with an expectation that researchers will use the land to "bioprospect" for potential medicines from fungi. The resulting website from this project has organized information about the fungi found on the preserve, including their location, setting, collector, and accession number. The latter presumably would allow researchers to recall tissue and more specific information about that species. There also are some glorious images of many of the species, but almost exclusively of macrofungi. The site will be useful primarily to mycologists and a few microbiologists interested in intensive fungal collections from one ecological site. There are a few great links to information about fungi on the web and even a special section for K-12 educators that may be of great use to some ASM members. The site is clear, easy to read and navigate, and uncluttered. It contains convenient links to a site search engine, GenBank, and site map imbedded within each fungal species' page. The site also includes information about the Cornell Center for Fungal Biology and its people, along with links to the larger community of mycologists at Cornell. Much of the information and names are clickable and very easy to understand. The site seems to be updated about every two or three months. At the time of review, the site was last updated on 11/29/00.
Jose Herrera
Truman State University
Kirksville, Mo.EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS
A History of Gene Therapy
VHS videotape. Produced by CBS Productions, distributed by Films for the Humanities and Sciences [(800)257-5126, http://www.films.com ], 46 minutes, $129 (purchase), $75 (rental).
Target audience: This film is suitable for high school or nonbiology majors. It could be used for patients with genetic diseases before gene therapy.
Purpose: Provides an overview of the current status of gene therapy. Since gene therapy is a relatively new field of research there is no " history."
Description: The title of this video is a bit of a misnomer. Probably a better title would be "An Overview of Gene Therapy." This video describes the work of W. French Anderson and Jim Wilson with extensive interviews by them. It also emphasis repeatedly the success of gene therapy, without discussing any of the failures. It does touch on, without any detail, the problems of vector development. It was lacking overall in detailed scientific content. The film does discuss some of the ethical problems associated with gene therapy and differentiates between somatic gene therapy and germ cell gene therapy, which it was emphasized was far in the future. It also touches on futureproblems of insurance and genetic testing and its results.
Strengths/weaknesses: This video is suitable for the lay audience and gives a very clear, easily understandable overview of gene therapy. It also makes one aware of the possibilities of gene therapy for a variety of conditions ranging from cancer, AIDS, and birth defects. What I found missing was detailed discussion of the mechanics of gene therapy, i.e., how it is actually done. The video is very long, over 30 minutes, and very redundant. It jumps around a lot. One has the impression that it is finishing when new scenes pop up with a different disease, e.g., cardiovascular diseases and the use of gene therapy in angiogenesis. I showed it to my virology class, and they found it much too long, boring, and too simplistic.
Recommendation: Suitable for nonscience majors or for gene therapy clinics for patients before enrollment.
Milton W. Taylor
Indiana University, BloomingtonInvestigations in Microbiology: Viruses
VHS videotape. Distributed by Films for the Humanities and Sciences [(800)257-5126, http://www.films.com ] 34 minutes, $149 (purchase), $75 (rental), $995 (eight-part series).
Investigations in Microbiology: Viruses is one video in a series of eight entitled "Investigations in Microbiology." Additional videos focus on Humans and Bacteria, Molecular Biology, Proteins, AIDS, Free Radicals, Cancer and Metastasis, and Oncogenes.
Target audience: "Viruses" is aimed upper-level science and medical students with a background in anatomy. The material presented is too advanced for beginning science majors but is suitable for students with backgrounds in general biology and anatomy.
Level of Presentation: This video is presented in lecture format and includes an introduction to medical virology complete with an engaging historical perspective on the science of virology. Concepts presented include basic introductions to virology and host-cell interactions, and brief discussions of medically important viruses.
Description: "Viruses" presents a brief introduction to medical virology with discussions of relevant topics such as viral immunity and hepatitis infections. Intriguing visuals are used, including computer graphics to illustrate important concepts. The video also includes a philosophical perspective on the role of viruses in the evolution of life. However, the concepts presented are basic and often stop short of a complete explanation, with many visuals not given adequate description.
Recommendation: "Viruses" is suitable for introducing medical virology to advanced science and medical students. Specific viral pathogens are discussed; however, concepts are presented only as brief overviews; therefore the video would be suitable for an introduction to a course in medical virology.
Cindy DeLoney
Loyola University
Chicago, Ill.
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