In addition to the Company Showcase presentations that occur at live Triad Biotech Alliance events, we also will have a series of blog posts featuring resources that Triad Biotech Alliance members may find useful. The resources will include those focused on information, education, small business aids and more. If you have a resource you’d like to suggest we feature, please tell us about it in the comments area.
Today I’m going to highlight a resource from Nature Education – eBooks available on the Scitable site. Scitable is an open, online resource from the Nature Publishing Group whose goal is to be a teaching and learning portal. There you will find educational articles written both by editors at NPG and from the scientific community at large. In the beginning the resource was focused on genetics, but it has now branched out into cell biology, and will continue to expand into other areas of the life sciences.
The part of Scitable that I want to specifically feature today is their eBook area, which is currently at the top of the “Topics” tab. To quote from Scitable’s own description of the eBooks:
Nature Education e-books are intuitive introductions to a range of topics relevant to science students, young scientists, and science enthusiasts of all ages.
The current eBook titles include: Essentials of Genetics, Essentials of Cell Biology, Cell Biology for Seminars, English Communication for Scientists and Guide to Life Science Careers. If you have an idea for an eBook, or even a burning desire to write an article for Scitable, I’d suggest that you contact an editor for more information. In my experience they are open to articles on many life science topics that you might be an expert on – in fact, I am a co-author with OpenHelix on a Scitable article entitled “Genomic Data Resources Challenges and Promises“. We didn’t get paid to write it, but it was fun & nice to try and help “fuel a global exchange of scientific insights, teaching practices, and study resources” (again quoting from Scitable’s about page). At a conference a few years back, a Nature editor assured me that the Scitable site would remain a community resource & would not be moved under a subscription model, since its development was partially funded by public grants. Check out Scitable, and add a comment with your favorite resource, when you have a chance.
