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Webolution of the Species
Calvin Reid -- 9/22/97
Sarah Greene, newly appointed president and CEO of BioMedNet, a Web community for biomedical scientists and researchers, says scientists, like other Web searchers, find that "It's tough getting through all that sciencespeak to find what you want."
A former scientist herself (she also founded Wiley's Current Protocols series), Greene joined BioMedNet in 1996 to develop the HMS Beagle (after Darwin's ship), a biweekly companion Web magazine featuring original material and pointers to all manner of biomedical resources on the Web. The Beagle mixes rigorous scientific articles with material for nonprofessionals in a jaunty editorial style that makes the site both useful and inviting "there are cartoons, an art gallery and even p try. Articles on biotech careers alternate with pieces on medicine, health or "fossilized metazoan embryos" culled from publications like The Lancet and Science.

"It's a way to get scientists to check in on BioMedNet everyday," said Green, who said the site attracts about 500,000 hits a week. Books figure prominently on both the Beagle and BioMedNet, and the Beagle features a biweekly book review (with extensive Web links), online reviews from Scientific American, Cell, Nature Medicine, and elsewhere; a listing of online bookstores contracted to provide sales services; new scientific titles; and more.

Indeed, the site's first book promotion "attracted hundreds of sales," said Greene, and promotions will soon become a weekly feature. BioMedNet is part of the U.K.-based Current Science Group and is headed by former Reed Books CEO Richard Charkin. Registration is required but free (membership has grown to over 120,000). Look for a software upgrade, redesign and lots of new features in early 1998.
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