The natural science journal Nature  and its US rival Science  are the world's leading scientific publications. The Nature Publishing Group is currently trying to become the opinion-shaping leader on the Internet. The group is currently going through a phase of wild experimentation, and it remains entirely unclear which services and products will turn out -- by a kind of natural selection -- to be successful in the long-term. There were repeated setbacks and dead ends, as Timo Hannay -- the director of Web publishing at the NPG's online department, which is currently 25 employees strong -- openly admits. "But if we take no risks, we cannot achieve true innovation," Hannay says.

• The Web sites of Nature  and Science 

• Launchpad provides a good overview of various products provided under the umbrella of Nature . Some of these, such as Dissect Medicine, were developed externally.

• Visiting the virtual world Second Life  is free. The island Second Life features scientific gimmicks such as walkable cells, a map of the heavens or a molecule model generator.

• Connotea is Nature's tagging service, a kind of intelligent link list  that also functions as a social networking site.

• Connotea uses an open source code for its software, which can be seen here .

• Nature journalist Declan Buttler has produced a mashup with Google Earth , in which he portrays the spread of bird flu.

• The bird flu plugin for Google Maps can be found here .

• What's new from the developers of the Web services department? The Weblog Nascent tells you , as well as inviting commentary from readers.

• Various databanks compiled under the umbrella of Nature .

• Various podcasts, some on various specialist topics . The Nature podcast alone allegedly has about 40,000 listeners at present.

• The annual meeting of scientists , Science Foo, can unfortunately only be attended by invitation. Information on it can be found here or on Wikipedia .

Background information

• An interesting introduction  to the approach chosen by Timo Hannay, the director of the Web publishing department at the Nature Publishing Group. His main message: "I switched from networks of neurons to networks of computers about 10 years ago when I discovered the Web."