WEB RESOURCES FOR EPS 210
I have selected the following web sites as useful resources that you can persue to help you with the class. I hope that you find them interesting and useful. They should lead you to many other sites of interest. Please let me know of any useful additional places that you find during your surfing. Any feedback on whether you find them useful or not would be very helpful.
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download.
Lecture 1 - Basic chemical principles.
Handout
for lecture 1 - Atoms - terminology 
Chem4kids - A Website that deals with the basics of atoms, bonding molecules etc. It is written for children in mind, but I think it is a nicely written and explained introduction to the basics of the atom, bonding etc.
Lecture 2 - The Nature of Life - carbon
chemistry - bonding and simple molecules.
Access Excellence - An excellent website that deals with many aspects of the chemistry of life right from the basics of how carbon forms bonds with oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen to the structure of proteins and DNA - great images of different biological molecules. Look under 'Graphics Gallery' for a whole selection of excellent images.
For this lecture, use the following images that can be downloaded and printed using Adobe Acrobat.
Review of Chemical Bonding involving Carbon atoms
Review of Chemical Bonding involving Carbon, Oxygen, Nitrogen; Phosphate Groups
Lectures 3 - 6 - The Nature of Life - the
chemistry of carbon. Monomers to polymers.
Handout
for lectures 3-6 - Biological Molecules - terminology
Introduction to amino acids - Website dealing with the structure of the twenty amino acids that are found in proteins.
Structures of many different organic compounds can found at Biochemical Compounds Declarative Database including amino acids listed below.
The twenty different amino acids that are present in proteins in cells. Each acid has its full name (e.g. alanine), a three letter code (ala) and a one letter code (A).
alanine -
ala - A - interactive image of L-alanine
arginine - arg - R - interactive image of L-arginine
asparagine - asn - N - interactive image of
L-asparagine
aspartic acid - asp - D - interactive image of L-aspartic
acid
cysteine - cys - C - interactive image of L-cysteine
glutamine - gln - Q - interactive image of L-glutamine
glutamic acid - glu - E - interactive image of L-glutamic acid
glycine - gly - G - interactive image of L-glycine
histidine - his - H - interactive image of L-histidine
isoleucine - ile - I - interactive image of
L-isoleucine
leucine - leu - L - interactive image of L-leucine
lysine - lys - K - interactive image of L-lysine
methionine - met - M - interactive image of
L-methionine
phenylalanine - phe - F - interactive image of L-phenylalanine
proline - pro - P interactive image of L-proline
serine - ser - S interactive image of L-serine
threonine - thr - T interactive image of L-threonine
tryptophan - trp - W - interactive image of L-trytophan
tyrosine - tyr - Y - interactive image of L-tyrosine
valine - val - V - interactive image of L-valine
Structure of DNA, RNA and proteins
Lecture 7 - The fundamentals
of life - cells and their functions
Click here
to view Powerpoint presentation
for lecture 7*.
*Note - this only works if you are using the MS Internet Explorer version 4.0 or higher. It does not appear to work with Netscape.
Handout
for lecture 7 - Cells - terminology
National Institute of Health web site - excellent web pages devoted to cells, cell structure and how they function.
Lecture 8 - Formation of
carbon - nucleosynthesis (Origin of the Universe, etc.)
Outline for Lecture 8 - Adobe Acrobat PDF File
Nucleosynthesis - NASA
Goddard Space Flight Center Web Page
An Introduction to Nucleosynthesis - very nicely put together website
covering the basics of nucleosynthesis
Big Bang Model -
NASA Goddard Space Flight
Center Web Page
Cosmology - PBS Cosmology Web Page - covering
some philosophical aspects of the Big Bang model and origins of
the Universe.
National Space Science Data Center - Hubble Space Telescope images of
supernovae, galaxies at Goddard Space Flight Center
Space
Telescope Institute -
Hubble Space Telescope image archive - spectacular images!
Lecture 9 -
Formation of the Solar System - meteorites and organic compounds.
Outline for Lecture 9 -
Adobe Acrobat PDF File
Images
of the Milky Way - NASA Astrophysics
Data Facility
Views of the Solar System -
Hawaiian Astronomical Society Web site with images of planetary
bodies in our solar system.
Lect 12
- Plate Tectonics
US Geological Survey - 'This Dynamic Earth' - Excellent web
site that discusses the basics of plate tectonics.
University of California Museum of
Paleontology - Very
helpful introduction to plate tectonics with some nice
animations.
Lect 13
- Geological Time
University of California Museum of
Paleontology - Interactive geological
timescale with lots of information about the development of life
on Earth
Lect 14
- 16 Early Earth Environments, Early Life and the Origin of Life
on Earth
Origins of Life - Excellent
NASA web page with many links to other sources of information
about early life.
Beginnings of Life - Excellent American Scientist article
written by the Nobel Prize winning scientist Christian de Duve.
Lecture 17 - Life in Extreme
Environments on Earth
Life in Extreme Environments -
Astrobiology Web -
information of life forms that exist in extreme enviroments on
Earth.
Lecture 19-21 - A Tour of the
Solar System
Views of the Solar System -
A wonderful resource for
information about all the planetary bodies in the Solar System.
The Nine Planets - A Multimedia Tour of the Solar System
- excellent website put together by the Lunar and Planetary
Laboratory at the University of Arizona.
Lecture 20 - Mars - Early
Observations from Schiaparelli to Percival Lowell
The Planet Mars: A History of
Observation and Discovery - A University of
Arizona Press book on line that documents the full history of the
exploration of Mars in several chapters.
Mars - by Percival Lowell (1895) - The
full text of Percival Lowell's landmark book documenting his
observations of Mars and his theories of an intelligent
civilization on Mars.
Lectures 21-25 - Mars exploration and geology
Mars geology and exploration -
Great web site with lots of
nice images of Mars and geological features on Mars
Marswatch.com - A web site for Mars freaks - lots of
good information about missions, geology etc.
Mars Global Surveyor - Jet Propulsion Laboratory web site -
has the whole map of Mars and you can zoom in on any region -
play for hours in those valley networks and impact craters. Great
timewaster!
Lectures 26 - The SNC Meteorites - rocks from Mars?
SNC meteorites - web
page with images and information about possible fossil life from
Mars
Lectures 27 - ALH 84001 - Evidence for fossil life in a martian meteorite?
ALH 84001 - what it is and where it came from -
an excellent overview by an acknowledged expert, Dr Allan Treiman
of the Lunar and Planetary Institute
The Evidence -
web page with images and
information about possible fossil life from Mars
The Evidence II -
excellent overview of the evidence for fossil life in ALH 84001
Review of The Evidence -
very detailed web page with excellent reviews of the evidence for
fossil life in ALH 84001
Lectures 28-29 - Extrasolar Planets
Extrasolar planets -
web page with index of many
sites relating to findings of extrasolar planets
SFSU extrasolar planet web page - The web page of planet finders
extraordinaire, Geoff Marcy and Paul Butler - great site.
The Extrasolar planet encyclopedia -
Info about every single
extrasolar planet known to date
Lectures
30-31 - Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI)
SETI - The SETI program
homepage - lots of good stuff about SETI programs.
The Drake Formula -
Try your own hand at the
Drake equation - web page where you can choose the values
of the parameters for the equation