June 24, 2009

New Google Search Options

When you do a search in Google, you will now be presented with a "Show options" link. Clicking on this allows you to view your search results in new and useful ways. Refine your results by video, forums or reviews. You can also refine your results by time period. Want to know if there was any mention of "heterocycles" in the last 24 hours, last week or last year? Google now has links to do just that.



What is the wonder wheel?

The wonder wheel is a visual tool that shows you related and connected terms to your search terms, which allows further discovery.

The timeline feature

The timeline feature shows you how many search results are found year by year. Click on a particular decade in the timeline and Google brings up results that reference that year.

For more info on Google's new search options and to watch a short video, check out the Google blog.

June 15, 2009

Keep Up-to-Date with Podcasts

Keep even more up-to-date on science news by listening to podcasts! Many of the major science journals have weekly or monthly podcasts where they highlight content from the journal, interview scientists and report on what's happening in the scientific community. The NIH has a bimonthly Research Radio podcast covering the lastest research findings. There's even lecture podcasts from universities like Stanford, MIT and UC Berkeley available for free from iTunes U.


You can listen or sign up to the RSS feed for these podcasts through iTunes(for both mac and pc), or other free podcasting software such as Odeo or Juice or by going directly to each website. An advantage of using iTunes or other software is that you can consolidate and update your podcasts in one central place.

Listen to them online, or even better, put them on your ipod or mp3 player. Even listen to them in your car during your commute by hooking up your ipod or mp3 player to your car stereo.