Science Magazine


www.sciencemag.org SCIENCE VOL 311 17 MARCH 2006 1529

NETWATCH
E D I T E D  B Y M I T C H  L E S L I E

W E B C A S T

<< Sun Block
Sky watchers keen to see the upcoming total solar eclipse
won’t be left out of the dark even if they can’t get to a 
vantage point in South America, Africa, or western Asia. 
On 29 March, the Exploratorium in San Francisco will 
webcast the event live from Side, Turkey. On hand at the
city’s Roman amphitheater will be four telescopes to track

the moon’s progress and two scientists to explain happenings
such as the appearance of the corona (above). This wispy outer layer of the solar atmosphere stands
out during totality, when the moon’s disk obscures the sun. The festivities start at 5 a.m. U.S. Eastern
Time. Totality will begin around 5:54 a.m. and will last a mere 3 minutes and 41 seconds. >>
www.exploratorium.edu/eclipse 

E X H I B I T

Poor Richard’s Web Site
Which early American politician could claim 
significant discoveries in meteorology, physics,
and navigation? Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790)
notched these achievements in his spare time,
when he wasn’t earning a fortune in the printing
business or helping invent a country. 
This biographical site from the Benjamin 
Franklin Tercentenary, a Philadelphia nonprofit
organization set up to honor the Founding
Father’s 300th birthday this year, offers several
pages on Franklin’s scientific work. It goes beyond
the famous kite-flying experiment that demonstrated 
lightning was a form of electricity. For instance, Franklin’s shipboard
notes on everything from sea temperatures to whale feeding habits inspired an
improved chart of the Gulf Stream. The Frankliniana section includes samples of 
his scientific gear, such as this early battery made from water-filled jars (above). >> 
www.benfranklin300.org/exhibition/_html/0_0/index.htm 

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I M A G E S

Brighter Lights, Bigger Cities
This new map of Earth’s nighttime illumination will make light bulb manufacturers glow and astronomers cringe. Released last
month, the chart* from the National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) in Boulder, Colorado, is a composite of satellite images snapped
in 2003. Site visitors can download and compare images from as far back as 1992. Although changes in illumination often are hard
to detect with the unaided eye, computer analysis shows that the United States and India continue to brighten, says Chris Elvidge 
of NGDC. However, areas of the former Soviet Union, such as Moldova and Ukraine, have been growing darker. You can peruse
processed versions of the maps that highlight brightness differences at this site† from a graduate student in Aachen, Germany. >>
www.ngdc.noaa.gov/dmsp/download.html         † www.blue-marble.de/night.php

Send site suggestions to >> netwatch@aaas.org Archive: www.sciencemag.org/netwatch

D A T A B A S E

Caught in a Bind
How tightly a potential drug attaches to its target

determines how well the compound will work

and what dose patients will need. Researchers

can nab binding affinities for about 14,000 com-

pounds at BindingDB from Mike Gilson of the

University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute

in Rockville and colleagues. Gleaned from

the literature, the data indicate the strength of

attraction between the compounds and key

proteins, such as the caspase proteins that

control cellular suicide. You can also upload

files of molecules not in the database to compare

them to inhibitors of a particular enzyme. >>

www.bindingdb.org 

W E B  L O G

Bones, Genes, 
And Brains
A study suggesting that social stress leaves

“molecular scars” on the brain and research

exposing cultural diversity in gorillas are

just two of the subjects that have snared the

interest of anthropologist John Hawks of

the University of Wisconsin, Madison. His

wide-ranging blog excavates novel ideas

and noteworthy discoveries in evolution,

genetics, and human paleontology. Hawks

promises to deliver three to five essays per

week. Gems he’s come across include a recent

New York Times piece about the Soviet Union’s

unsuccessful efforts in the 1920s to prove our

simian ancestry by crossbreeding chimps with

humans. Readers intrigued by the tiny Flores

hominid uncovered in Indonesia 2 years ago

will find a section devoted to the controversial

remains. >> johnhawks.net/weblog

Published by AAAS

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http://science.sciencemag.org/


EXHIBIT: Poor Richard's Web Site

DOI: 10.1126/science.311.5767.1529d
 (5767), 1529.311Science 

ARTICLE TOOLS http://science.sciencemag.org/content/311/5767/1529.4

CONTENT
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 is a registered trademark of AAAS.ScienceScience, 1200 New York Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20005. The title 
(print ISSN 0036-8075; online ISSN 1095-9203) is published by the American Association for the Advancement ofScience 

© 2006 American Association for the Advancement of Science

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