# How the heck do I find a reputable website which can give me scientific facts? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 10, 2003, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-heck-do-i-find-a-reputable-website-which-can-give-me-scientific-facts/187588 "2003-07-10T23:54:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/2bfe46/32.png) [@Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xavier)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-heck-do-i-find-a-reputable-website-which-can-give-me-scientific-facts/187588/1 "2003-07-10T23:54:48Z")
Often when I am looking or enquiring into something on the net, I will come across websites that can not exactly be described as “scholarly” (you know, like “Dan’s Great Webpage for Learning Some Funky Math”). The only real websites that I can think of to consult when searching for stuff that contain somewhat reliable information are ones like [Scientific American](http://sciam.com/) or [How Stuff Works](http://www.howstuffworks.com/). But these have thier limitations, especially for SA in attempting to search for general explanations on certain topics (such as protein synthesis or probabilities). So where exactly on the internet can I go if I want reliable information in studied fields such as mathematics or physics? Are there any databases which can provide the right information (or at least direct me to where I can) that I can use for free? What I am ideally looking for is information that is verified or, for lack of a better word, _professional_. So when you are searching for this type of verifiable information on the internet, whether it be for economics, the sciences or whatever, where can you go to obtain this information that has this _relatively_ high quality/standard? ---
**Author:** ![biqu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@biqu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/biqu)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-heck-do-i-find-a-reputable-website-which-can-give-me-scientific-facts/187588/2 "2003-07-11T00:15:16Z")
[http://mathworld.wolfram.com/](http://mathworld.wolfram.com/) [http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/](http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/) [http://www.mathforum.org/](http://www.mathforum.org/) If you’re looking for answers in the physical sciences or mathematics, I would recommend these sites. Questions in the social sciences or life sciences are better answered elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Kevin\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de0a6/32.png) [@Kevin\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevin_H)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-heck-do-i-find-a-reputable-website-which-can-give-me-scientific-facts/187588/3 "2003-07-11T00:16:58Z")
Here are some links [http://mathworld.wolfram.com/](http://mathworld.wolfram.com/) -Mathematics resource library [http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/astronomy/](http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/astronomy/) -Astronomy resource library [http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/chemistry/](http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/chemistry/) -Chemistry resource library [http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/physics/](http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/physics/) -Physics resource library [http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/](http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/) -Reference of scientific biography [http://www.nist.gov/dads/](http://www.nist.gov/dads/) -Glossary of Algorithms and Data Structures [http://www.webelements.com/](http://www.webelements.com/) -Good chemistry reference [http://www.matweb.com/](http://www.matweb.com/) -Chemical and material reference [http://www.msdsonline.com/](http://www.msdsonline.com/) -Material safety data sheets, useful for chemistry pre-labs [http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/](http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/) -Astronomy picture of the day [http://heritage.stsci.edu/public/gallery/galindex.html](http://heritage.stsci.edu/public/gallery/galindex.html) -Hubble telescope images [http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/index.html](http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/index.html) -Chandra space telescope homepage, w/ images [http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/index.html](http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/index.html) -Common and not-so-common physics questions answered [http://www.si.edu/revealingthings/](http://www.si.edu/revealingthings/) -Smithsonian online [http://xxx.lanl.gov/](http://xxx.lanl.gov/) -Print archive mirror, e-print archives: physics, math, computer papers ---
**Author:** ![Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/2bfe46/32.png) [@Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xavier)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-heck-do-i-find-a-reputable-website-which-can-give-me-scientific-facts/187588/4 "2003-07-11T00:40:01Z")
Thank you. Thank very much. Anyone else got links please post them over here - try not to just repeat what the guys above have done. Thanks all. ---
**Author:** ![Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/2bfe46/32.png) [@Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xavier)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-heck-do-i-find-a-reputable-website-which-can-give-me-scientific-facts/187588/5 "2003-07-11T00:41:31Z")
Sorry I mean the information that the guys above have given. As in the same links. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-heck-do-i-find-a-reputable-website-which-can-give-me-scientific-facts/187588/6 "2003-07-11T01:12:24Z")
[Related thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=149223). ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-heck-do-i-find-a-reputable-website-which-can-give-me-scientific-facts/187588/7 "2003-07-11T01:17:08Z")
Well, there’s a little site known as The Straight Dope… And if you want to read _really_ professional medical articles, you can try [PubMed](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed/) from the NIH. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-heck-do-i-find-a-reputable-website-which-can-give-me-scientific-facts/187588/8 "2003-07-11T02:01:39Z")
See [Moderator’s Notes: On General Questions - reference sites](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=149223). **Arnold Winkelried** has compiled a list of reputable sites in the OP, and others have added more. ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-heck-do-i-find-a-reputable-website-which-can-give-me-scientific-facts/187588/9 "2003-07-11T04:01:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Smeghead \* > \*\*Well, there’s a little site known as The Straight Dope… > > And if you want to read _really_ professional medical articles, you can try [PubMed](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed/) from the NIH. \*\* Professional medical articles aren’t as intimidating as they look, BTW. (Professional biology papers, on the other hand, are probably even _more_ intimidating than they look, and you’ll get both med and bio papers from PubMed.) You have to read a few to get into the general style of writing, but I had little trouble understanding them at the age of 19 (after a year of freshman biology in college), when I had a job at a drug company that mostly involving reading medical papers. The only major problem is that unless you’re affiliated with a large organization like a university that buys journal access for you, you probably can’t read most of them. (There are exceptions, such as the [BMJ](http://www.bmj.com), but they’re in the minority.) You _can_ get the abstracts, which are little summaries of the major points of the paper - they’d probably be enough to answer any questions you had, since you probably don’t care much about their specific methadology or the reasons they arrived at their conclusions, just what the conclusions _are_. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-heck-do-i-find-a-reputable-website-which-can-give-me-scientific-facts/187588/10 "2003-07-11T04:13:19Z")
A good calculator site (geometry, algebra, trigonometry, chemisry, physics, astronomy, finance, and units converters (length, area, volume, etc) is [www.1728.com](http://www.1728.com). And I agree that the NIST site [www.nist.gov](http://www.nist.gov) is very reliable. I believe ALL sites ending in .gov are well-done and accurate. ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-heck-do-i-find-a-reputable-website-which-can-give-me-scientific-facts/187588/11 "2003-07-11T05:09:42Z")
This always seems to be a good place to start: > **[Encyclopedia Britannica](https://www.britannica.com/)** > > Explore the fact-checked online encyclopedia from Encyclopaedia Britannica with hundreds of thousands of objective articles, biographies, videos, and images from experts. You do a search, they give you what information they have and then point you to what they consider to be the best websites on the subject. ---
**Author:** ![abby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/48db29/32.png) [@abby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abby)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-heck-do-i-find-a-reputable-website-which-can-give-me-scientific-facts/187588/12 "2003-07-11T05:20:11Z")
I gotta say, tho, that even places like HSW or _gasp_ TSD, are not necessarily always 100% factual (or woruld thew word be “correct”?). Like most referance material, you need to take it with a grain of salt, and consider the context the referance is given in, and the context of how you apply it. abby ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-heck-do-i-find-a-reputable-website-which-can-give-me-scientific-facts/187588/13 "2003-07-11T06:57:46Z")
Another possible source for reputable science facts would be [Project Gutenberg](http://www.gutenberg.net/), a free online repository for the world’s books. There you can read the actual published works of scientists, for example: Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, Charles Babbage, even Aristotle. Since they have to be books out of copyright, you won’t see the newest stuff there. But it will be reputable. For example, you can’t get anything more “reputable” on relativity than reading Albert Einstein! \ If you want to help add to the list of freely available books online by donating just a bit of you time, go to [Distributed Proofreading](http://www.pgdp.net/) and proofread a page or two. \ ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-heck-do-i-find-a-reputable-website-which-can-give-me-scientific-facts/187588/14 "2003-07-11T08:04:39Z")
I find that adding **site:.edu** or **site:.ac** or **site:.ac.uk** in the criteria of a Google search sometimes helps to skim off the dross. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-heck-do-i-find-a-reputable-website-which-can-give-me-scientific-facts/187588/15 "2003-07-11T09:35:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by wolf\_meister \* > \*\* > I believe ALL sites ending in .gov are well-done and accurate. \*\* [http://www.ready.gov](http://www.ready.gov)