Finding Species is an organization that integrates science, photography, and design to create standardized methods of photo-documenting plants and animals, for use in print and web field guides, educational exhibits, and conservation campaigns.
posted by owhydididoit on Nov 9, 2006 - 2 comments

The Mineralogy Database contains 4,442 individual mineral species descriptions with links and a comprehensive image library. Recent additions to the image library include barite, zinkenite/stannite, and zanazziite/kosnerite. There's also a clickable periodic table, that lets you pick an element and see information about minerals that contain it. Learn about crystal forms with a fun little java applet. Search for minerals by cleavage, color, diaphaniety, habits, hardness, and more.
posted by owhydididoit on Sep 1, 2006 - 9 comments

What the world creates by hand. The sons of a Peace Corps member, Roberto and Andy Milk had a lifelong interest in artisans in developing countries. They teamed up with Armenia Nercessian, a UN human-rights officer, to create Novica.com, an online marketplace that sells the work of more than 10,000 craftspeople. While Novica operates chiefly in association with National Geographic, NPR also helps to promote them.
posted by owhydididoit on Aug 25, 2006 - 14 comments

Scott Petersen, aka "reptileman", opens his Serpentarium to visitors 365 days a year. Have a look at some of his snakes, lizards, invertebrates, crocodilians, and turtles, and kids blythely handling them. reptileman recommends that you also visit Zach's Lizard Land, where you can meet Jerky, Buddy, and Cola, all of whom are lizards.
posted by owhydididoit on Aug 20, 2006 - 8 comments

The Berlutis have been making shoes for four generations. Often at Maison Berluti relationships are formed around the language of shoes. Men gather for shoe-polishing sessions, where champagne flows.
posted by owhydididoit on Aug 18, 2006 - 11 comments