The primary function of Element List is to help you find links to science research labs and publicly available scientific data through the Element List science link directory. This site was partly inspired by a paper that I wrote for Science in 2001, which was based entirely on oceanographic and earthquake data that I downloaded over the web. U.S. research labs and funding agencies have been working over the past several years to make their archives of scientific data available to the public online. Before Element List, there was not a good place on the web to find links to these databases. Now through a combination of online scientific databases, downloadable data analysis tools, major research libraries, education resources, and links to scientific research labs, you can do your own scientific research using Element List as your guide. You could find data for a class science project, a scientific magazine article, even a Ph.D. thesis. The research labs links could potentially help you obtain lab access that you need. If there is anything you're looking for but can't find, write to us, and we'll tell you where to find it on Element List or we'll add missing links as necessary.