They’re all around us–microbes, that is! Think of them as the neighbors you’ll never really meet. Here are some projects to help you explore the microbiome on earth, in space, and inside our own bodies.
Project MERCCURI
It’s time! Microbes collected by citizen scientists are heading to the International Space Station this weekend! This project from UC Davis, SciStarter, Science Cheerleader, Space Florida and Nanoracks still needs your help collecting microbes from shoes and cellphone. Find out why, here. Get started!
American Gut
Compare the microbes in your gut to those in the guts of thousands of other people in the US and elsewhere and help researchers learn more about the influence of microbes. American Gut is a project built on open-source, open-access principles. Get started!
uBiome
uBiome is the world’s first effort to map the human microbiome through citizen science. The microbiome are the bacteria that live on and within us. Take a look at yours! Get started!
GoViral
Think you have the flu? Join GoViral participants who report symptoms weekly using a website or mobile app and help researchers in the process. Get a Do-It-Yourself flu test kit, too. Get started!
Clumpy
Help classify plant cell images by their “clumpiness” and give insights into the progression of bacterial infection in plant cells. Get started!
Want to bring citizen science into the classroom? Check out our Educators Page to learn more about how to integrate projects into your curriculum.
SciStarter and Azavea (with support from Sloan Foundation) spent the last year investigating developments in software, hardware, and data processing capability for citizen science. Here’s what we found.
Calling hackers and developers! SciStarter is organizing pop-up hackathons to develop open APIs and other tools to help citizen scientists. Contact the SciStarter Team if you’d like to join us in Boston, Philly, NYC, or Washington, DC in April! Email info@scistarter.com
Want your project featured in our newsletter? Contact jenna@scistarter.com