The Global Health Network
- The Global Health Network is an ambitious attempt to prevent diseas by linking health care professionals
around the planet. This Web site presents their slightly breathless vision: instantaneous access to massive
amounts of medical data, advances ranging from telemedicine (consultations with remote doctors) to disease
prediction in large populations (by monitoring and forecasting diseases much the same way we do with
weather). Already this site has gathered world-wide health links and resources, from the World Health
Organization to BIREME, a Latin American health center, to U.S. State Department Travel Advisories. The number and variety of resources and contacts here is very large. Not to be missed by those seeking the widest range of health information.
Healthwise - Columbia University Healthwise
is a Web resource maintained by the Health Education and Wellness
program of Columbia University Health Service. The focus of Healthwise
is on Ask Alice, an amazing anonymous online Q&A operated
by professional and peer health educators. The Ask Alice archives
feature hundreds of questions on health topics like sex, alcohol,
nutrition, and general health; a form allows readers to submit
their own questions.
The Human Heart
- The human heart beats two and a half million times in an average lifetime (more than that for you coffee
drinkers). The Franklin Institute's 'virtual hear' presentation is a good way to spend a few dozen of those
beats. This is real scientific stuff, not a kiddie trip, though it is presented as a tour. Learn about blood types -- a
person with Type AB blood can receive a blood transfusion from any type donor, for instance -- or compare
x-rays of a normal-sized and enlarged heart. The whole interactive enchilada is here: movies, audio segments
(they call the two heart sounds sounds 'lub' and 'dub') and pictures decorated with lavish descriptions and
explanations. You can actually watch a movie of the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between the
capillaries and arteries. Your fascination here 'will lead to understanding and respect.'