Biology textbook and the primary scientific literature

Kimball, J. 2004. Kimball's Biology pages.. Online biology textbook. Comprehensive, up-to-date, and readily understandable (or at least as understandable as one might hope for).

Pubmed. Easily searchable online access to essentially all primary scientific articles that pertain in any way to human health or disease. Abstracts for nearly all articles are available online. This is the place to go to quickly identify not only the key scientific papers, but also the key scientists.

Public policy implications of science

National Academy Press www site. Some 2500 books on just about every conceivable topic on the interface of science and society---genetic engineering, diet and health, smoking and cancer, etc. This is a good place to find a definitive and (usually) even-handed review of the science. However, the books published by the National Academy are usually much more technical than the articles in Issues in Science and Technology (see next entry).

Issues in Science and Technology. This journal is published by the National Academy of Science and others and it contains eminently readable articles on public policy and science, written by top-flight scientists. Its a great place to go to find a broad and understandable overview.

Science Netwatch Archive. Eclectic collection of interesting web sites, many rather technical. See especially the Science Policy, Science and Business and Ecology headings.