Using MadSci Network Ahh.. Gorgonzola has forgotten the trephines again!

Introduction

MadSci Circumnavigator: An all-in-one frames interface that puts the MadSci Archives, search engine, and the Random Knowledge Generator at your fingertips. We maintain separate non-frames pages to allow viewing of recently answered question, and of files in the MadSci Archives.

Random Exploration - We field questions in topics from astronomy to zoology. If you don't know where to begin try Eunice's latest construct - the Random Knowledge Generator.

Subject Specific Exploration - The Circumnavigator, Current Queue and archives pages allow files to be viewed from specific areas. You can see what's living in astronomy's currentQ or in the chemistry archives.

Grade Specific Exploration - You may also generate an index relative to the grade level. For those outside of North America, grades K-3 correspond roughly to ages 5-8; grades 4-6 to ages 9-11; grades 7-9 to ages 12-14, and grades 10-12 to ages 15-18. The form in the archives will let you further specify a topic area (i.e. Physics, grade 4-6).

Keyword Search - The MadSci archives may be searched for specific keywords.

1. It should concern science.
2. It should be a question. Requests for web sites or resources will be directed to the MadSci Library.
3. We will not do your homework (science project.. graduate research..).
4. Highly technical questions are more appropriate for the USENET science groups which support threaded discussion.
5. We will not answer questions related to business operations, therapies, treatments, supplements, medical diagnoses, or to making explosives, illegal substances or rail guns.

1. After submitting a question, you will receive a Message ID#.  This number is critical to following the progress of your question.  Number 6 of this list describes how to use the ID to check the status of your question.
2. Next, one of the MadSci Moderators will review your question.  Moderators are graduate students or professionals covering fields in their areas of expertise.
3. If you provided a valid email you will be notified if your question passes review.
4. For questions not passing review, as time permits, the MadSci moderators respond directly to indicate where questions may best be directed.
5. We ask that scientists respond within 7 days, or notify us that they will be unable to do so. We aim for a turn-around time of 2 weeks which allows questions to be sent to at least two individuals. We save questions for a maximum of 3 months, after which we send notification that an answer could not be found.
6. The moderators also review all answers. If you provided a valid email, a copy of the final answer will be sent to you along with a URL to where it may be viewed on our site. If you did not enter an email, enter your Message ID# on the question status page. It will direct you to the answer when it becomes available.

• Less than 20% of questions are sent to scientists. More than half of the questions we receive have answers in our archives (a benefit of having been around for >10years!). Please search our site and check the MadSci Library before submitting questions.
• Of the questions passing review, ~80% are answered within 2 weeks. Please use the Message ID# to track the progress of questions.
• We are a volunteer organization with no full-time (or even paid :( .. ) staff.  The scientists devoting their time do not receive any compensation other than the satisfaction of helping others.  We will not send out queries that are rude or overly demanding.
• Many questions require extensive research on the part of the person providing an answer.  Please be patient, and expect that it may take time to receive a response.
• Please use the web form to submit questions as it expedites our ability to review and send questions to scientists. Questions received via email may have an additional 4-5 day delay in their processing.

If you believe you have found an error in information on our site, please contact us with the URL of the file, what you believe to be in err, and, preferably, a fix to the mistake.

In addition, keyword searches of our archives may also produce useful information and links to sites.