Keystone Weekly
volume 4, issue 11        December 2, 2002

This week's Key Points: *Web Pick of the Week* and *Awesome Science!*
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Wow! This site has great and totally original activities and information for science teachers and students at all grade levels, including high school. I dare you to look at this site and *not* find it really interesting.

The main features on the home page lean more towards older students, offering amazing virtual lab experiences; animations; a virtual museum; video lectures about topical science; and animated mini-lessons. Looking for stuff for younger learners? Click on "Cool Science for Curious Kids" on the left side of the home page, and be taken to a neat site that delves into fun biology topics, such as the plants that we eat; the micro-contents of dust; animal similarities and differences; and microworlds (examined without a microscope!).

Also be sure to glance at the extremely thorough "Ask a Scientist" section, as well as the "Becoming a Scientist" area, which offers video interviews with real scientific researchers.

This site is definitely bookmark-worthy.

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When much of the news these days is about species extinction, it's nice to know that new mammal species are still being discovered. However, nothing in nature is ever easy, as is the case with this new species, which is a variation of a previously known species. A researcher in Australia has determined that the mountain brushtail possum has northern and southern populations that are "morphologically and genetically distinct."

Even when the possums were considered a single species, their habitat was threatened, as they require the diminishing old-growth forests to make their homes. But now that scientists are understanding the differences between the species and their different needs, the "revelation that these animals represent two species means that their populations and ranges are effectively half as large" as previously known to be and will require even more careful conservation.

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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 9819641.
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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