sciPHONE?

Molecules
By: Sunset Lake Software
Cost: Free
"Artificial DNA," Enter the four-digit Protein Data Base code for any molecule, and Molecules renders its three-dimensional structure as a rotating, zoomable model. Manipulating the molecule structure with multitouch feels especially intuitive, and the graphic panning is smooth. A flip menu provides a list of your stored proteins with additional information, such as the molecule's discoverers, sequence, source, and where the protein was originally published.



NASA Image of the Day
By: Toughturtle
Cost: Free
An awe-inspiring snapshot from outer -space, every day. A web app, NASA Image of the Day beams distant pictures to your phone, with links to the administration's RSS feeds and podcasts. A great way to inspire on-the-go daydreaming of far-off places filled with darkmatter, hidden galaxies, black holes, and dead stars.



WeatherBug
By: AWS Convergence Technologies
Cost: Free
A portable personal weather station for the closet meteorologist. With the ability to pinpoint reference location to very specific places (the school across the street, in our case) for a slew of real-time data (temperature, graphical live wind direction and velocity, rolling high and low temperature benchmarks, heat index, and humidity), as well as area forecasts with slide-outs to more detailed information, WeatherBug is a step above other technical weather services available. Radar imagery incorporates Google Maps, and the local weather cams are a nice bonus. The program's native integration is smooth and intuitive.



Atom in a Box
By: Dauger Research
Cost: $9.99
Seriously nerd-hot visualization of hydrogenic atomic orbitals. Atom in a Box uses a complex set of equations to display atomic orbitals in real time. Interaction makes use of the iPhone's multitouch interface and accelerometer. The beautiful and fascinating result shows the orbital as a cloud that, according to the designer, "is determined by the orbital's probability density for the electron." Here, the electron is represented mathematically, modeled by something called "eigenstates," in a behavior that is far stranger than the way the Moon orbits the Earth. Understanding the way orbitals behave in a hydrogen atom is an integral component of quantum mechanics and particle behavior in general.



Starmap
By: Frédéric Descamps
Cost: $11.99
An ostensible planetarium. Starmap provides a fully portable way of locating things—stars, planets, constellations, meteor showers, deep-field objects—in the night sky. You can calibrate your location (either with city, longitude/laditude coordinates, or by using iPhone's triangulation) and toggle through north-, east-, south-, and west-view sky charts. It allows for customized ambient and star- brightness levels to correct for time of night and light pollution. A flip-dock on the bottom of the screen houses all the catalog lists of the sky objects, and a navigation arrow guides you to your point of interest.



A Brief History of Genetics
By: University of Nottingham
Cost: Free
Um, a brief history of genetics. Simple and clearly organized, this web-based app provides a timeline of major discoveries in the field, from the 1850s to recent breakthroughs. A pull-down menu at the top breaks up the chart by decade, making for easy reference and navigation. Clicking on an item in the timeline pulls up more detailed information about the respective benchmark. A helpful tool for impressing at cocktail parties. Certain cocktail parties anyway.



Jott
By: Jott Networks
Cost: Free
A personal note transcriber. Jott is a clever little application that converts any speech (spoken into your handset) into text. It stores these transcribed notes in folders and allows the user to edit and reorganize them; there's even a feature to email them to oneself. Although not a science application per se, the tool holds massive potential for scientists, as well as wonderers of the world in general. Very often, flashes of inspiration or formulations of critical questions occur when we least expect them: while taking the long way home; in the wee hours when our minds occupy that magical space between dreams and waking life; in the bathroom. It's not always convenient to put pen to paper when the rush of creativity flows in rapid, unpredictable bursts. Pick up your phone; talk it out. The notes will be there for you to crystallize for the Nobel committee later.



MathU RPN Calculator
By: Creative Creek
Cost: $9.95/year subscription
A classic Reverse Polish Notation calculator with old-school cachet. For IEEE double-precision accuracy, replace the native iPhone calculator with this JavaScript-driven calc application from MathU, which was inspired by midcentury Hewlett-Packard design. Once downloaded, the interface runs free of a data connection. "Supports over 80 functions and has 20 storage registers that are remembered between runs."