March may be ending, but March Madness is still in the air! Here are sixteen sweet projects in honor of the Sweet Sixteen:
Cicada Tracker
Families, armchair scientists and lovers of nature are invited to join in a bit of mass science: track the cicadas that emerge once every 17 years across New Jersey, New York and the whole Northeast by building homemade sensors and reporting your observations.
Spectral Challenge
The Spectral Challenge is a call to makers, hackers, and Do-It-Yourselfers worldwide to tackle real-world environmental problems with low-cost, open source spectrometry.
Project MERCCURI! Microbes in Space
Project MERCCURI is an investigation of how microbes found in buildings on Earth (in public buildings, stadiums, etc) compare to those on board the biggest building ever built in space – the International Space Station.
Air Casting
AirCasting is a platform for recording, mapping, and sharing health and environmental data using your smartphone.
Hummingbird @ Home
The Audubon Society needs citizen scientists to track, report on, and follow the spring hummingbird migration in real time. A free mobile app makes it easy to report sightings, share photos and learn more about these remarkable birds.
Precipitation Identification Near the Ground project (PING)
If you live in the area shown on the map, the Precipitation Identification Near the Ground project (PING) wants YOU to watch and report on precipitation type. PING is looking for young, old, and in-between volunteers to make observations—teachers, classes and families too!
Dognition
Help researchers learn more about dogs (including your dog! by recording and sharing specific interactions with your dog. You’ll learn your dog’s cognitive style by playing fun, science-based games –- an experience that gives you the insight you need to make the most of your relationship with your best friend.
RinkWatch
Where is your ice rink? Pin the location of your rink on a map, and then each winter record every day that you are able to skate on it. Scientists will gather up all the information from all the backyard rinks, and use it to track the changes in our climate.
DIY BioPrinter
Did you know you can print live cells from an inkjet printer? Come join the ongoing BioPrinter community project! Whether it’s hardware hacking. programming, Arduinos, microfluidics, synthetic biology, plant biology, cell culturing, tissue engineering – everyone has something to learn, or something to teach.
Marblar
Marblar is unique and fun way to engage in citizen science and exchange ideas across disciplines. Marblar posts dormant technologies in need of creative, real-world applications and then asks you to come up with those applications.
Where is My Spider?
By just taking photos and observing spiders, you can help the Explorit Science Center learn about which climates certain spiders live in and track the distribution of spiders over time.
Vital Signs Maine
Where are the invasive species in Maine? Where aren’t they? Students, educators, citizens, and scientists are working together to find out.
Hedgehog Hibernation Survey
Help collect hedgehog records from 1st February until 31st August 2013. Understanding patterns of hedgehog behaviour across the UK will enable scientists target the conservation strategy for this charming animal, which is currently in severe decline.
Tag a Tiny
Help the Large Pelagics Research Center improve scientific understanding of large pelagic species by catching, measuring and releasing juvenile bluefin with conventional “spaghetti”-ID tags.
Astro Drone
Contribute to future space exploration by playing the free Astro Drone game! People who possess a Parrot AR drone are challenged to perform different space missions in an augmented reality.
iSeeChange
The iSeeChange Almanac is a socially networked weather Almanac for communities to collectively journal their climate experiences — their observations, feelings, questions, and decisions — against near-real time climate information.
Looking for even more? Search our Project Finder for more citizen science projects!