Site of the Week
Poisonous Plants and Animals: Danger, Use, Beauty, Fun http://library.thinkquest.org/C007974/
Poisonous animals that can kill you and “fun” might not seem to go together immediately, but this site, part of the ThinkQuest series of educational sites designed by students from around the world, begs to differ, bringing you information about toxic organisms of all kinds in an attractive and engaging way.
Beautifully designed and generously sized, the site lets you browse factfiles on species ranging from tobacco to tarantulas; you can peruse not only chemical and biological details, but also the historical and religious stories behind the science. Find out about the history of the potato and the cannabis plant; about the hidden venom of the duck-billed platypus, and exactly why swimming naked with a box jellyfish can be considered to be a bad idea. For many of the species mentioned, you’ll also find advice for the treatment of the stings or bites, and how to avoid them in the first place.
Navigation of the site is well designed on the whole, though some areas behave a little quirkily or are missing entirely. Not all the factfiles have pictures to accompany them, and the quality of the writing varies from page to page: some of the sections are comprehensive and well researched, while others are short and little vague, illustrating that English is not the authors’ first language. Some of the science is a bit dodgy too: the classification of spiders as insects, for example, is wrong, and there are some questionable nuggets of information - perhaps the authors spent a little too long researching for the cannabis section?
ALTERNATIVE ENDING… but these nuggets are in the minority, and this site is well worth a visit - just remember your anti-histamine cream and platypus repellent.
Richard Northover
Info-content ** Readability ** Appearance *** User friendliness ** Kids ** Plug-ins none