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38 | JULY 2016 | GENengnews.com | Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News BEST SCIENCE APPS Links to the apps described above are posted on GEN's website, www.GENengnews.com. To suggest an app for Best Science Apps, please send a link to Taralyn Tan (ttan@GENengnews.com). Key Strong Points Weak Points Excellent Ratings Very Good Good 9 – HHHH HHH HH Histology—Basic Tissues HHH Platform: iPad/iPhone Available for Android: Yes Cost: $2.99 9 Easy-to-use, good amount of content provided – Some lag time in content display The Histology—Basic Tissues app is one of a series of histology apps made by the University of Michigan for medical students and undergraduates studying histology. The app is divided into four sections—cell biology, epithelia, glands, and connective tissue—each of which includes a series of histology slides that can be presented in sequential or random order. Questions for the student accompany each slide. Each question is asked sequentially and answers are displayed only after the student taps on the screen, thereby providing a useful "self-test" organization. There are occasional delays in the display of content, but overall the app functions well. The app contains a good amount of content, with over 80 histology slides provided in total. Microscope Resolution HH Platform: iPad/iPhone Available for Android: No Cost: $1.99 9 Can save calculations to a table, easy to use – Can't directly export table, documentation must be downloaded from website A simple and useful app for researchers and educators, the microscope resolution app lets users quickly calculate (you guessed it) the maximum resolution of a light microscope lens by specifying the numerical aperture and wavelength of light. App users can choose from two diferent versions of the formula used to calculate resolution within the app settings. The app provides a nice visual exercise in exploring how resolution changes with wavelength, as the resolution calculation is updated in real-time while the user varies the wavelength with a slidebar. Furthermore, users can compile a handy reference sheet in the lab by saving the resolution information for multiple lenses to a resolution table. (While there is no direct option to export or email the table, users can take a screenshot of it if they wish to reference it outside of the app.) E-Lecture Producer HD HHH Platform: iPad/iPhone Available for Android: No Cost: $2.99 9 Very easy to use, simple import/export of fles – Size of imported presentations can't exceed 10 MB The E-Lecture Producer HD app is a nifty app that lets educators quickly create online presentations with voiceovers and transcripts from Pow- erpoint or Keynote presentations. (Users are encouraged to frst con- vert their presentations to PDFs to avoid compatibility issues.) The app includes straightforward directions instructing users on how to import slide fles from either iTunes or other apps on their mobile device. From there, users quickly convert the fles into E-Lecture projects and can then edit them by adding voiceovers using the device's microphone and by typing out a written transcript. The E-Lectures can be previewed within the app and exported as a ZIP fle via iTunes fle sharing or via other apps. One downside to the app is that imported presentations cannot exceed 10 MB in size, thereby limiting its utility as it applies to longer lectures. BioLegend Cytokines & Chemokines HH Platform: iPad/iPhone Available for Android: Yes Cost: Free 9 Various signaling pathway maps organized in one place – Requires Internet, majority of content is online The BioLegend Cytokines & Chemokines app gathers useful information about mouse and human cytokines and chemokines in one place, though the infor- mation is largely drawn from the BioLegends website. As such, app users must have an active Internet connection or data plan for the app to function. That annoyance aside, the app does provide a convenient user interface to browse information about specifc molecules and display various signaling pathway maps made by BioLegends. Unfortunately, BioLegends missed a great op- portunity to make the pathway maps interactive, so for now they are just static images. Users can choose to view the pathway maps on the BioLegend web- site instead of within the app, and they can also quickly email the direct links for specifc pathway maps from within the app. ChemCalc HHH Platform: iPad/iPhone Available for Android: Yes Cost: $0.99 9 Beautiful design, easy to use – No additional information about elements included ChemCalc is a simple, elegantly designed Peri- odic Table app and molecular mass calculator. To calculate the molecular weight of a given mol- ecule, users need only tap the corresponding elements within the Periodic Table and indicate the number of each atom type from the num- ber pad located above the Periodic Table. The selected numbers are automatically displayed as subscript in the molecule's chemical formula in the display feld. Users can also indicate the number of water molecules for hydrates. Tap- ping the calculate button quickly displays the molecular mass for the entered molecule. Be- yond this feature, the app includes a reference sheet of common ions, information about acids and bases (with audio pronunciations), as well as a game in which users must quickly identify the positions of a series of 10 elements within the Periodic Table as fast as possible. Chemical Compatibility Database HH Platform: iPad/iPhone Available for Android: No Cost: Free 9 Easy-to-use – Must select options from predefned list, dead links As a quick reference for use in the lab, the Cole-Parmer chemical compatibility database app can be quite handy. The app is very simple and allows users to check the compatibility of specifc chemi- cals with various materials that may be used for chemical storage or handling. On the home screen of the app, users are prompted to select either a material or a chemical from the preloaded lists within the app. (While certainly not exhaustive, the lists—especially that for the chemicals—do include a large number of options.) Selecting the "see results" button then displays the list of chemicals (if a material was specifed) or materials (if a chemical was specifed) with their compatibility scores for the user-defned parameter. Alternatively, us- ers can quickly query the compatibility of specifc material-chemical pairs using the app.