2018 was a great year for Citizen Science! More than 3,000 projects and events are now registered on SciStarter. There’s something for everyone, everywhere.
In this edition of the newsletter, we are honoring the Top 18 Projects of 2018: projects that our collective community shared, participated in, and loved.
Cheers!
The SciStarter Team
Look up and make cloud observations. Satellites can only see clouds from above, so your ground-truthed observations will be compared to satellite images to get a view from both above and below. Help NASA scientists predict droughts and floods in the process.
Location: Global
Help scientists learn about the diet preferences of ants around the world; their choices will inform scientists on what food resources are available to ants throughout the year.
Location: Global
What better way to enjoy nature, observe streams in your town, and snap a selfie for science? Stream Selfie helps map streams across the United States to establish good locations for water testing.
Location: United States
Do all squirrels look the same to you? Did you know there were up to three different species climbing around your parks, campus, and backyard? Count how may squirrels you see to keep track of squirrel populations to better understand tree squirrel ecology. National Squirrel Day is January 21. We know you’ve been struggling to decide what to do to celebrate. Here’s your answer. 🙂
Location: Global
CoCoRaHS: Rain, Hail, Snow Network
If it’s falling from a cloud, you should measure it with this project. The Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network encourages you to use low cost measurement tools to measure precipitation. These data are then used by the National Weather Service and meteorologists.
Location: Global
Looking up at the night sky and taking in the beauty of the stars is a wonderful way to spend an evening… unless there aren’t any visible stars due to light pollution. Record the amount of visible stars above your head to record light pollution near you.
Location: Global
View short video clips of ultrasounds that show blood moving through vessels of mice. Click when you see stalled blood flow. This project is already helping scientists at Cornell accelerate research on Alzheimer’s.
Location: Global
Did you know that cities are sometimes referred to as urban heat islands? They can be hotter than surrounding suburban or rural areas. How does climate and weather affect your surroundings? Recording your local environmental flooding and heat observations helps NASA track climate change.
Location: Global
Think you know your dog breeds? Take an online quiz to test your ability to identify distinct breeds present in mixed-breed dogs based on their (very cute) pictures.
Location: Global
Share your photos of nature through the iNaturalist app and record the biodiversity around you. In addition to teams of naturalists who will help ID what you posted, click “View suggestions” to have AI weigh in with identifications.
Location: Global
Observe squirrels in your neighborhood to understand where and why squirrels turn from black to gray. Two centuries ago, most squirrels were apparently black — measure natural selection on your neighborhood squirrels through this project. Remember, January 21 is National Squirrel Day.
Location: Global
Send your plant observations to the National Phenology Database. This allows scientists to keep track of the life cycles of plants and animals year after year.
Location: Global
Explore space and analyze real cancer data in this game! It is designed to find clues that lead to genetic mistakes that may lead to cancer.
Location: Online Only
Use your natural superpower of being able to notice patterns to align sequences of DNA by shifting and moving puzzle pieces in this game. This activity helps researchers do something computers can’t: sort through Multiple Sequence Alignments.
Location: Online Only
Have you always wanted to be the first to explore another planet? Help NASA identify and mark craters and other terrain on Mars.
Location: Online Only
Play online games to identify languages and language features. This project raises awareness about and invites participants to contribute to language science.
Location: Online Only
Keep track of the bugs in your backyard by monitoring insect biodiversity for scientists at Colby College. This survey targets what are considered “true bugs,” or insects in the suborder Heteroptera in the order Hemiptera.
Location: Global
The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual four-day event in December during which bird watchers count birds for 15 minutes to create a real-time snapshot of where birds are located around the world.
Location: Global
Your SciStarter dashboard helps you track your contributions to projects. Complete your profile to access this and other free tools. It’s also how we match you with the best projects near you.
Contact the SciStarter Team
Email: info@scistarter.com
Website: https://scistarter.com
Explore other citizen science projects with our Project Finder!
