Best of Tucson 1996: Best Educational Web Site--TIE

Best Educational Web Site--TIE

The Arid Lands Newsletter
http://ag.arizona.edu/OALS/ALN/ALNHome.html

The Carl Hayden Bee Research Center
http://gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov/

STAFF PICK: Education and the Web have a natural future together. And Tucson is lucky enough to exist in the shadows of that Goliath of education, the University of Arizona. Long before the Web explosion of 1995-'96, the mighty giant had established deep roots on the Internet and the Web, giving many of the sites associated with the University an advantage in accumulating content and in keeping up technologically. There are too many informative, well designed Web sites under the University umbrella to list. To see for yourself, the easiest thing to do is type "University of Arizona" on any search engine and start your surfing there. However, we love to tell you what to do, so try out these two lovely local sites:

The Arid Lands Newsletter (http://ag.arizona.edu/OALS/ALN/ALNHome.htmlx), is a classy little site, achieving super-clean design with efficient navigational tools, good graphic-to-text ratio (for easy downloading), and the most important feature of all--CONTENT. It's a quarterly magazine all about the proper way to live in this arid zone. Folks, this is a desert. Learn to live in it, or leave.

Next up: They're here! Prepare yourself for the invasion. Africanized honeybees have landed in Tucson. Yeah, yeah, you knew that. But can you tell the difference between Africanized and European honeybees? Tough one, without taking a look at pulp-based nest cavities. Not to worry, though, you too can impress you pals at the office with your extensive knowledge of Apis mellifera, thanks to the Carl Hayden Bee Research Center. Our sweet little friends are here to stay and the best anyone can do is learn more about them so we can peacefully co-exist. The site is of simple design: a few dozen feature articles, downloadable bee images, sounds, and even BIOCONTROL-PARASITE, a zip-file with a share-ware model that simulates a variety of parasitoid interactions. Nuttin' but fun with insect and plant biology. Check out what all the buzz is about at: http://gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov/.