~ Early Web Links ~

Elasmo.com is a detailed reference site covering the teeth of both extinct and living elasmobranchs, the group that includes sharks and rays. Fossil enthusiasts and paleontology hobbyists will find specialized information on elasmobranch dental morphology, with a focus on Neogene-era specimens from sites like Lee Creek.

Dr. Randall Whitaker's Observer Web is a comprehensive academic resource dedicated to autopoiesis and enaction, covering the cognitive biology theories of Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela. It offers a tutorial, study plan, bibliography, encyclopaedia, and internet guide for anyone exploring second-order cybernetics, radical constructivism, and enactive cognitive science.

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.

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.

The Freshwater and Marine Image Bank is a University of Washington Libraries digital archive containing over 16,000 historic images of fish, shellfish, marine mammals, fisheries, and aquatic subjects drawn from publications spanning 1735 to 1924. Visitors can browse richly hand-colored illustrations and photographs organized into categories ranging from limnology and aquatic botany to polar exploration and traditional fisheries from around the globe.

Created by ichthyologist M.K. Oliver, this comprehensive reference site documents every cichlid fish species found in Lake Malawi, Africa, with scientifically accurate descriptions, photographs, and taxonomic data going back to 1997. Visitors can browse species alphabetically, by color pattern, or through picture galleries, and also find FAQs, a quiz, trophic adaptation guides, a bibliography, and maps covering this remarkable rift lake ecosystem.

Ariu is a high school junior from Indiana whose personal site documents a remarkable range of pursuits, from Drosophila genetics research and healthcare legislation advocacy to an AI tool for school nurses. The site serves as a living digital portfolio of someone genuinely engaged in science, medicine, and civic life at a young age.

Duckyfeet is Jessica's personal homepage, version 17, themed around narwhals with a playful old-web aesthetic full of graphics and a tagboard. The 'So long, and thanks for all the fish' farewell quote and narwhal theme give this compact site a charming marine-life personality.

Dendroica is a long-running nature blog with hundreds of posts spanning years of birding, moth-watching, and wildlife observation, named after a genus of wood-warblers. The archive stretches back many years with consistent weekly updates including a recurring 'Loose Feathers' series, and the blogroll connects to a rich community of birding and entomology blogs.

The Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria is a collaborative portal uniting 60 regional herbaria across Alaska, British Columbia, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and the Yukon, offering access to over 3.6 million plant specimen records and nearly 1.8 million images. Researchers and naturalists can search the database by label data or geographic location, download datasets for offline use, and consult a fully annotated checklist of vascular plants native to the Pacific Northwest.