Fathom Archive

I saw an article on A&LD about how movie monsters would be at physical disadvantages in the real world. Excerpt: Enlarging an insect to this size raises other interesting problems that don't arise with large vertebrates. Take the respiratory system. Insects have a remarkably efficient respiratory system with a basic design completely different from what we possess. Rather than inhale air, extract oxygen in the lungs, and transport it in the blood as we do, insects have a branched, tree-like network of tubes called trachea that extend through the body and open at one end to the atmosphere. Large insects may actively ventilate the outer portions of this network, but the inner regions (the smaller tubes) are not ventilated; instead, oxygen simply diffuses down the tubes... ...The upshot of all this is that Mothra is going to have to add a lot of tracheal tubes to maintain a sufficient oxygen supply. Of course, the more of its volume that is tracheal tubes, the less is biomass that needs oxygen, but this implies that although Mothra may be heavy (because it's big), its density is going to be very low--about the same as your average cotton ball.

This article led me to the eclectic Fathom Archive.

From its FAQ page: The History of Fathom -- Fathom Knowledge Network, founded in 1999, launched its Web site in the spring of 2000 with the goal of providing high quality educational resources to a global audience through the Internet. The Fathom academic consortium grew to include 14 leading educational and cultural institutions dedicated to that goal. The Fathom Web site ceased operations in March 2003. The Fathom Consortium consited of: The American Film Institute, the British Library, the British Museum, Cambridge University Press, Columbia University, the London School of Economics, the Natural History Museum, the New York Public Library, RAND, the Science Museum, the University of Chicago, the University of Michigan, the Victoria & Albert Museum, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

The articles all looked very interesting, so why don't I just list them all here?

Ancient Egyptian Society and Family Life -- Emily Teeter and Douglas J. Brewer
Ancient Greek Curse Tablets -- Christopher A. Faraone
Ancient Greek Love Magic -- Christopher A. Faraone
Archaeology and National Identity in Israel -- Nadia Abu El-Haj
Assessing the Economic Impact of September 11 -- Gary Becker
Astrology in Ancient Rome: Poetry, Prophecy and Power -- David Wray
Athanasius Kircher and the Egyptian Oedipus -- Ingrid D. Rowland
The Biology of B-Movie Monsters -- Michael C. LaBarbera
Capital Punishment in the United States: A Forum on Death-Penalty Issues -- Randolph N. Stone, et al.
Capital Punishment Reform in Illinois -- Tracy Meares, et al.
Carnal Ignorance -- Wendy Doniger
Carnal Knowledge -- Wendy Doniger
Civil Rights and Military Tribunals -- Kenneth Adams, Herbert J. Stern, Geoffrey R. Stone, David Strauss
Clones, Genes and Faustian Technology -- Robert J. Richards
The Correspondence of Queen Elizabeth I and King James VI -- Janel Mueller
Creoles, Pidgins and the Evolution of Languages -- Salikoko S. Mufwene
Digital Media and the Egalitarian Classroom -- Candace Vogler
"Democracy Dies Behind Closed Doors": Civil Liberties and National Defense -- Nadine Strossen
Egil Skallagrimsson and the Viking Ideal -- Christina von Nolcken
Emotion, Rationality and Human Potential -- John Cacioppo
End-of-Life Decisions -- Tikva Frymer-Kensky, et al.
Equal Protection? The Supreme Court's Decision in Bush v. Gore -- Geoffrey R. Stone
Exhibiting Experimental Art in China -- Wu Hung
Family Values in Ancient Rome -- Richard Saller
Feminism, the Taliban and the Politics of Counterinsurgency -- Saba Mahmood, Charles Hirschkind
Fragmentation and Cybercascades -- Cass Sunstein
Hatshepsut: Wicked Stepmother or Joan of Arc? -- Peter F. Dorman
Hypocrisy about Hypocrisy: The Creation of Selves -- Wayne C. Booth
"I Have Given You my Advice": Educational Principles in the Hittite Empire -- Theo P.J. van den Hout
The Legitimacy of Military Tribunals -- Bernard Meltzer, David P. Currie, Jack Goldsmith, Cass Sunstein, and Adrian Vermeule
The Lessons of Enron -- Baird, Douglas; Daniel Fischel; Randal Picker; Julie Roin; David Weisbach
Lost Egypt: Photography and the Early Documentation of Egyptian Monument -- Epigraphic Survey
Lost Tongues and the Politics of Language Endangerment -- Salikoko S. Mufwene
Mapping Africa: Problems of Regional Definition and Colonial/National Boundaries -- Ralph A. Austen
Miles of Clay: Information Management in the Ancient Near Eastern Hittite Empire -- Theo P.J. van den Hout
Never Snitch: The Mythology of Harry Potter -- Wendy Doniger
Ordinary Evil -- Candace Vogler
The Origins of the Dead Sea Scrolls -- Norman Golb
The Persistent Puppet: Pinocchio's Heirs in Contemporary Fiction and Film -- Rebecca West
The Power of Tiananmen: Intellectual Activity and the Student Movement -- Dingxin Zhao
The Prophetic Art of Prognosis -- Nicholas A. Christakis
A Quixotic Museum: Cervantes and Italian Renaissance Art -- Frederick A. de Armas
Religion in the Lives of the Ancient Egyptians -- Emily Teeter and Douglas J. Brewer
The Rhetoric of Bush and Bin Laden -- Bruce Lincoln
The Rules of Comedy: Moliere and the Art of Depiction -- Larry F. Norman
The Scientific Article: From Galileo's New Science to the Human Genome -- Joseph E. Harmon
Shakespeare Faces Retirement -- David Bevington
Should We Continue to Study Race? -- Kenneth Warren
The Theatrical Baroque: European Plays, Painting and Poetry, 1575-1725 -- Larry F. Norman
Therapeutic Cloning: Hope or Hype? -- Janet D. Rowley
Toward Global Justice -- Martha Nussbaum
Turning the Century with Thomas Hardy -- James K. Chandler
Virtue and Virtuality: Gender in the Self-Representations of Queen Elizabeth I -- Janel Mueller
Why It Helps to Read Great Books: Texts, Society and Time -- Constantin Fasolt
Why We Dig Up the Past -- McGuire Gibson, Susan Kidwell, Paul Sereno
Women's Legal Rights in Ancient Egypt -- Janet H. Johnson
The Wrath of the Northmen: The Vikings and their Memory -- Christina von Nolcken