When you can sit at home at your own computer and bring yourself up to speed on what’s happening, it’s a great time-saver. Here’s the best site we have seen in a while.

It starts with an overview. At the bottom of the page you’ll see NEXT which will take you to a page that asks What is Science and attempts to answer the question.

At the bottom of the page, click on the live link Why is it important? That takes you to a page called, What Has Science Done for me Lately? Here are the highlights:

If you think science doesn't matter much to you, think again. Science affects us all, every day of the year, from the moment we wake up, all day long, and through the night. Your digital alarm clock, the weather report, the asphalt you drive on, the bus you ride in, your decision to eat a baked potato instead of fries, your cell phone, the antibiotics that treat your sore throat, the clean water that comes from your faucet, and the light that you turn off at the end of the day have all been brought to you courtesy of science. The modern world would not be modern at all without science. There would be no way to use electricity. From Ben Franklin’s studies of static and lightning to AlessandroVolta’s first battery, to the key discovery of the relationship between electricity and magnetism, science has made us a world that can keep the lights on. Our telephones and television sets depend on these discoveries.

Science has given us modern medicine. In the late 1700s, Edward Jenner first convincingly showed that vaccination worked. In the 1800s, scientists and doctors established the theory that many diseases are caused by germs. And in the 1920s, a biologist discovered the first antibiotic. From the eradication of smallpox, to the prevention of nutritional deficiencies, to successful treatments for once deadly infections, the impact of modern medicine on global health has been powerful. In fact, without science, many people alive today would have instead died of diseases that are now easily treated.

Science informs public policy and personal decisions on energy, conservation, agriculture, heal, transportation, communication, defense, economics, leisure, and exploration.

If you still have your doubts (or the kid in your house comes up with some) you may want to go on to the page called: Misconceptions about Science

It’s full of some pretty wild ideas.

Then set aside some time to update yourself with these wonderful science specials that are just plain fun:

• Asteroids and dinosaurs - Learn more about how science works as you follow scientists on a journey of discovery toward solving the mystery of the dinosaur extinction.
• The structure of DNA: Cooperation and competition - Learn how the information shared among an unlikely group of researchers led to a key biological discovery - solving the molecular structure of DNA.
• The science checklist applied: Studying variable stars - See how Henrietta Leavitt's story compares to the Science Checklist.
• The science checklist applied: Solving DNA's double helix - Look at the work of Franklin, Watson, and Crick in the framework of the Science Checklist.
• American Institute of Physics exhibits - Visit this website to explore science stories from the history of physics.
• Nobelprize.org - Visit the website of the Nobel Foundation to learn more about key discoveries in physiology, physics, chemistry, and economics.

Best of all are the mysteries you find under this heading: * 125 Questions: What we don't know - Visit Science magazine's website to explore some of the big questions that scientists are studying right now.

You couldn’t plan a more relaxing afternoon the whole family can enjoy, and the price is right: bring some popcorn!