This journal features articles covering various aspects of dissection. "Biology--The Study of Life" (George Russell) offers students experiments that do not require using invasive procedures. "Animal Cruelty--Behind the Scenes" (Zoe Weil) describes sources of laboratory animals. "Doing without Dissection" (Juliana…

Focuses on indexing refinements in major life science databases--those specializing in biological/biomedical literature coverage--which influence cross-life searching decisions. Tables included highlight database descriptions, comparisons in coverage, ease of access (indexing of secondary concepts or search modifiers), chemical substance indexing…

Explains relationships between energy intake and expenditure focusing on the cellular, chemical and neural mechanisms involved in regulation of energy balance. Information is referenced specifically to conditions of obesity. (Physicians may earn continuing education credit by completing an appended test). (ML)

Examines education and training of library personnel for health-related libraries in Latin America. Highlights include history of librarianship education in general, levels of education, network formation, ways in which health sciences librarians cope with problems of their specialization, recommendations of UNESCO meeting sponsored by directors…

Using many different media, students can turn leaves into images which can be used for study, bulletin boards, collections, and identification. The simple techniques described include pastel printing, smoke prints, ink or tempura printing, bleach printing on t-shirts, ditto machine printing using carbon paper, and making cutouts. (DH)

Samara (winged seeds from maple and ash trees) can be used for open-ended inquiry or a series of directed science activities. Attributes, observations/inferences, drawing, motion, floating, seed structure, creative design, and measurement are some of the suggestions for classroom use of these seeds. (DH)

Describes development of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, which opened in 1913, including the history of its research library. Library collections in support of biology and history and services to curatorial staff and other users are discussed. Director, collection and staff size, and main subjects collected are noted. (EJS)

This article describes the World Wide Web (WWW) Entrez server which is based upon the National Center for Biotechnology Information's (NCBI) Entrez retrieval database and software. Entrez is a molecular sequence retrieval system that contains an integrated view of portions of Medline and all publicly available nucleotide and protein databases,…

Suggestions are provided for using animals (particularly snakes) as the focus of studies and activities in the science classroom. For example, cages with animals can serve as a learning center on various aspects of the animal. A list of suggestions for the care and feeding of snakes is provided. (JN)

Announces a survey prepared by the National Academy of Sciences on the dangers of formaldehyde in the environment. (SA)

Describes science activities related to Christmas and Thanksgiving, including identification of evergreen trees, tree shapes, pine cone and needle collections, edible decorations, and instructions for preparing bird food called "bird pudding." (SK)

Described are two curriculum units from the Michigan Sea Grant Program for middle school students: The Sea Lamprey in the Great Lakes, and Great Lakes Fisheries Transition. Topics discussed include fishery rights and responsibilities, where fisheries are, the modern fishery, buying and selling fish, and preserving fish. (DS)

Described are the perceptions of six past presidents of the National Association of Biology Teachers regarding the organization and its growth in the period from 1946 to 1965. These comments were taken from taped statements which are now in the organization's archives. (CW)

Proposes domestic pests as ideal material for ecological studies to provide readily accessible and relatively simple communities. Describes the booklouse and a number of other suitable species. Suggests the use of the students' own homes as habitats to investigate and for use in teaching the principles of population dynamics. (RT)

Describes the astrocytes' function as equal partners with neurons in both the normal and the abnormal brain. Discusses the developmental scaffolds, inert scar tissue, Huntington's disease, psychiatric disorders, and the identification of these brain cells. (RT)