~ Early Web Links ~

The Virtual Cell is an interactive educational tour of a biological cell, using extensive imagery to guide visitors through cellular structures and components. The included pronunciation guide and visual-heavy layout suggest this is a reference resource designed to help students and curious learners explore cell biology in an engaging, self-guided format.

Stern's Splendors of the Rain Forest is a richly illustrated site dedicated to tropical plants, focusing on orchids, bromeliads, tillandsias, cacti, and succulents native to the Americas. Featuring exotic photo galleries, cultural guides, and links to major plant societies worldwide, it serves as an enthusiast's showcase for rain forest horticulture.

Created by Leslie Taylor, this extensive tropical plant database catalogs hundreds of Amazonian medicinal plants by common name, botanical name, ethnic uses, and healing properties. A leader in rainforest plant research since 1995, the site offers deep reference content including preparation methods, disease applications, and articles distinguishing herbs from drugs.

Bill Standley's curated directory of internet resources for wildlife ecologists, organized into categories covering federal and state organizations, professional and non-profit groups, universities, and taxa such as mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles. The site also indexes resources for endangered species, fisheries, aquatic ecology, jobs, and wildlife-related products like telemetry equipment and optics.

Rachel Sussman's project documenting the oldest living organisms on Earth, from ancient chestnut trees to Siberian actinobacteria, combines scientific curiosity with fine art photography. Each post chronicles her travels to find and photograph these extraordinary subjects, paired with reflections on deep time, survival, and the nature of life itself.

Michael Lueth's extensive photographic flora documents mosses, liverworts, and other bryophytes across Europe and beyond, with photo diaries from dozens of field excursions spanning from Svalbard to Madeira. The site features hundreds of species-level plant photographs organized by location and expedition, making it a remarkable visual reference for bryophyte enthusiasts and botanists alike.

Created by Dr. John Hilty, Illinois Wildflowers is a comprehensive botanical reference covering prairie, woodland, wetland, savanna, and weedy wildflowers native to Illinois, complete with plant-feeding and flower-visiting insect databases. The site's depth is remarkable, extending beyond flora to include vertebrate animal interactions, botanical and ecological terminology, and detailed photo documentation built over nearly two decades.

Tim Tyler's essay from the Lotus Artificial Life site takes a critical look at the concept of the 'technological singularity,' arguing that exponential growth curves have no truly singular points and that futurists like Vinge and Kurzweil misuse the term. The piece is a thoughtful, technically grounded rebuttal complete with references to Kurzweil's graphs, Wikipedia, and related essays by other thinkers.

ITIS is the official Integrated Taxonomic Information System, a partnership between U.S. federal agencies and global specialists providing authoritative scientific names and taxonomic classifications for plants, animals, fungi, and microbes worldwide. Researchers and biodiversity professionals can search by common name, scientific name, or TSN identifier, access hierarchical taxonomic reports, and download the full database for integration into their own projects.

Housed at the University of Utah's J. Willard Marriott Library, the Western Soundscape Archive offers thousands of audio recordings of animal species and ambient environments across eleven western U.S. states and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Visitors can search or browse recordings of over 570 bird species, frogs, toads, reptiles, mammals, and wild landscape soundscapes contributed by volunteers, government agencies, and conservation groups.