·https://webcast.stsci.edu/webcast/detail.xhtml?talkid=4418&parent=1

The Hubble Space Telescope was launched into low Earth orbit on April 25, 1990, supported by NASA funding that began in the 1970s. While the initial phase of the mission encountered problems (the main mirror was incorrectly manufactured and needed to be repaired), by 1993 Hubble was sending back some of the most magnificent images of the universe that humans have ever seen. This two-hour presentation by Frank Summers, of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), offers an overview of the history, trials, and accomplishments of NASA’s first Great Observatory. The talk is available for free streaming online. In addition, the slides, which include phenomenal images taken from Hubble, can be downloaded in PDF format. For educators teaching astronomy, and for anyone with a fascination for space exploration, this is a valuable presentation.

·http://www.nlm.nih.gov/nichsr/usestats/index.htm

Finding and using health statistics has become requisite for a number of careers in the past several decades. It’s also a worthwhile skill for anyone navigating the increasingly complex world of health care and medicine. This free online course from the U.S. National Library of Medicine is divided into three related parts: About Health Statistics, Finding Health Statistics, and Supporting Material. Selecting any of these tabs opens to a table of contents. From there, readers can follow the course page by page. For instance, About Health Statistics begins by reviewing the importance of health stats, moves on to their uses, and then speaks about sources for the gathering of statistics, such as population surveys and registers of diseases. 

·http://www.eiu.edu/wism/index.php

While the express goal of this website is to recruit and retain women students in sciences and mathematics at Eastern Illinois University, there is plenty of good information on the site for the rest of us. Readers may like to start with Further Reading, where they can link to media coverage of women in science from around the web. From there, they may select Biographies of Women in Science, where they can access dozens of biographies of women who have made contributions to fields as diverse as chemistry, primatology, biophysics, and astronomy. In addition, the site features links to half a dozen other websites on the topic, from the Smithsonian’s photo portraits of women scientists to the San Diego Supercomputer Center’s coverage of women scientists from around the world. 

·http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/the_audio_book_club.html

Katy Waldman hosts Slate’s Audio Book Club, an engaging podcast where she facilitates monthly discussions about distinctive literary titles with expert book lovers from around the country. Recent guests have included a senior editor at Slate, an editor from the New York Times Book Review, a writer at the Atlantic, and Choire Sicha, co-founder of the popular culture site, the Awl. Discussions have ranged from wowed to perplexed to incensed to critical, but as these lovers of books have taken on such titles as Helen MacDonald’s soulful memoir, H Is for Hawk, or Paula Hawkins’ best-selling thriller, Girl on the Train, the overall mood is one of careful consideration and, above all, appreciation for the art form.