Gallery
Publications
Places to read the real thing. Some classic papers are paywalled at the publisher. The open copies and the libraries are listed first for that reason.
Libraries
- OpenPubMedThe index of biomedical papers. Search here first when a claim needs a citation. The abstract is not the result.
- OpenPubMed CentralFull text that is legally free. Prefer it to a random PDF with no version number.
- BooksNCBI BookshelfOnline textbooks, including molecular biology references, free to read in a browser.
- JournalPLOS BiologyAn open-access research journal. Useful as a model of papers you can actually finish reading.
- JournaleLifeReviewed research with the decision letters often visible. Those letters are a masterclass in what referees ask.
- PreprintsbioRxivPapers before journal review. Read them as claims in public, not as settled results. Check whether a version was later published.
India
- JournalCurrent ScienceThe Indian Academy of Sciences fortnightly. A place to see Indian research as it is reported to a broad scientific reader.
- JournalJournal of BiosciencesResearch journal of the Indian Academy of Sciences, across modern biology.
- TeachingResonanceSerious science written so a student can learn it. Closer to this site’s aim than a news item is.
- CommunityIndiaBioscienceEssays, jobs, and the practical life of Indian life science. The jobs board is also on the jobs page.
Classics
- 1859On the Origin of SpeciesDarwin Online hosts the book and the manuscripts. Quote from a named edition, not from a poster.
- 1866Mendel’s paper, in EnglishMendelWeb’s transcription and commentary. The ratios are more interesting in his words than in a summary.
- 1953Watson and Crick, NatureA structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid. Short. Read it beside the Franklin and Gosling paper, not instead of it.
- 1953Franklin and Gosling, NatureMolecular configuration in sodium thymonucleate. The measurements that constrained the model.
- PrizesNobel lectures in medicineThe lectures are often the clearest account a discoverer ever wrote, after the fight was over.
Data
- SequencesNCBIGenes, genomes, and the literature links around them. A homepage, not a single database.
- ProteinsUniProtProtein sequences and what is known about their function, with the evidence typed rather than blurred.
- StructuresProtein Data BankExperimental structures of macromolecules, including the ribosome models discussed on this site.
- EuropeEMBL-EBIThe European home of many of the same public datasets. Learn one interface well rather than six badly.
- HumanNational Human Genome Research InstituteA public guide to the human genome projects and to terms a news article will not define.
Do not pay a stranger site that offers “free PDF” of a paywalled paper. Use the library you have, the author’s accepted manuscript when the journal allows it, or PubMed Central. This page will not link to pirate libraries.