Blog: Citizen Science Projects, People, and Perspectives
In the latest episode of the SciStarter podcast, we celebrate National Dog Day (August 26th) with some canine citizen science. Scientists would like to learn about dog personalities and genetics; what traits help them perform well as service animals; and how environmental factors could affect their health. If you have a canine companion, you have … Read more “Dog Days of Science”
Categories: Other
New projects are being added to SciStarter all the time! We’re rounding up a few of the latest citizen science opportunities on SciStarter here for you to check out. You can travel to Mars to find clouds above the Red Planet, learn about how alphabets from around the world are evolving, track wayward balloons and … Read more “All new citizen science projects for you!”
Categories: Newsletter
Our oceans are vast, powerful and mysterious — and even after centuries of study, there are still many things scientists don’t know about our planet’s blue expanses. But the ocean affects all of our lives intimately, even those of us who live far from the coast. Oceans provide food for billions of people, shape weather … Read more “How Citizen Science Helps NOAA Keep Tabs on Our Oceans”
Categories: Animals, Climate & Weather, Environment
Do you know the fictional Japanese monster Godzilla? We present to you its miniature version — the very real marine iguana. Marine iguanas are a quirky, charismatic species of reptile living in the tropical paradise of the Galápagos Islands. People often refer to them as mini-Godzillas or marine dragons, but they are definitely not monstrous. … Read more “Help Study the Galápagos Marine Iguana With a New Online Project”
Categories: Animals
Dunnn dun, dunnn dun, dunn dun dun, dun dun dun dun dundundundun …! 🦈 Maybe the shark from Jaws was just upset at all the plastic trash in the water? Either way, if we protect the water, we protect the sharks. Find citizen projects below that guide you on making and sharing observations to … Read more “🦈 Shark week — Citizen science edition”
Categories: Newsletter
Sharks get a lot more attention than, say, sea cucumbers, possibly because sharks tend to have much bigger teeth. They even get their own week! (note to Discovery Channel: please find room for Sea Cucumber Week). And yet, as marine scientist and shark expert David Shiffman points out, scientists are still discovering new things about … Read more “Tracking Sharks and Listening to Rays”
Categories: Animals, Biology, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Nature & Outdoors, Ocean & Water
Squirrels are fantastic creatures that live all over the world, including your backyard! These floofy-tailed creatures are more than adorable (and sometimes annoying) creatures — they’re actually perfect models to study evolution, species conservation and habitats (like woodpecker cavities). Your local squirrel observations are needed for research questions like these and more. Find out how … Read more “Go nuts with these 5 squirrel-themed citizen science projects”
Categories: Newsletter
SciStarter is more than just a place for you to find or share opportunities to turn curiosity into impact. Whether you’re a volunteer looking for new projects to try out, the leader of a project seeking participants or a facilitator who wants to introduce citizen science to your community, we’ve got you covered! For Citizen … Read more “How to Make the Most of SciStarter (As a Citizen Scientist, Project Leader or Educator)”
Categories: About Us, Affiliate Tools
With the arrival of the solstice, the nights are at their shortest, but they’re also nice and warm for summer stargazing and space-related citizen science! Put your eyes to good use with these astronomy projects on SciStarter. You won’t need any special knowledge, or even special tools for most of them! Report night sky streaks from satellites overhead to … Read more “5 Out-Of-This-World Citizen Science Opportunities”
Categories: Featured Projects
At NASA GLOBE Clouds, our science team uses observations from citizen scientists like you to help us better understand the data our satellites collect. Using the GLOBE Observer app, volunteers send us observations of clouds taken while a satellite is overhead, which we then compare to our satellite measurements of the same clouds. In just … Read more “NASA GLOBE Observer is Celebrating this Summer!”
Categories: Climate & Weather
