A firefly flashes on a black background

SciStarter Podcast: Sensations of Summer

Every season has its own unique sights, sounds and other sensations. In this episode of the SciStarter podcast, we look at fireflies, listen to cicadas, feel the ocean waves and extend our senses beyond the bounds of our planet. Audio Podcast Video Podcast Credits: Firefly Closeup Terry Priest CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED Surfing Beach Video … Read more “SciStarter Podcast: Sensations of Summer”

Categories: Animals, Astronomy & Space, Biology, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Featured Projects, Insects, Nature & Outdoors, Ocean & Water, podcast, videos

Dragonfly sitting on a stalk of wheat

Days of Dragonflies, Fireflies and Fly Fishing

It’s the season for emergences, whether you’re a dragonfly, firefly, periodical cicada or fly fishing enthusiast! The warm weather brings a variety of citizen science opportunities, some of them fleeting, so we hope you can get outdoors and experience the wonders of nature with your friends and family, and help document them for the many … Read more “Days of Dragonflies, Fireflies and Fly Fishing”

Categories: Animals, Biology, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Environment, Insects, Nature & Outdoors, Newsletter, Ocean & Water, Other

Check out SciStarter’s top projects of 2023!

In 2023, volunteers like you made over two million contributions to SciStarter Affiliate projects. That’s two million data points scientists wouldn’t have had otherwise. The top five projects this year included both perennial favorites and newcomers, and touched on subjects near and far: the night sky, backyards and even inside our bodies. Check them out … Read more “Check out SciStarter’s top projects of 2023!”

Categories: Alzheimers, Animals, Astronomy & Space, Citizen Science, Climate & Weather

Cozy up to these indoor activities that actually help advance research

Hundreds of activities listed on SciStarter are designed for you to participate right from home. That’s right…you can help advance scientific research in your PJs if you want. It’s perfect now that cold weather is approaching for many of us! Here are five projects to get you started. Cheers, The SciStarter Team

Categories: Animals, Archeology, Astronomy & Space, Biology, Birds, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Education, Featured Projects

Spy on animals around the world while contributing to ecological research

You don’t need to go on a safari to see wild creatures in their natural habitats. There are a number of scientific studies of wild creatures that depend on the eyes of observers just like you. Take part to be transported (virtually) to ecosystems around the world through images and videos (sometimes even livestreams!) where … Read more “Spy on animals around the world while contributing to ecological research”

Categories: Animals, Biology, Birds, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Education, Featured Projects, Nature & Outdoors, Newsletter

Learn More About Your Health While Helping Science

With flu season right around the corner, it’s the time of year where you might be thinking about your health a little more than normal. Participating in these simple projects not only gives you access to more data on your health, it helps researchers better understand the human body. Help track disease outbreaks, sharpen your … Read more “Learn More About Your Health While Helping Science”

Categories: Biology, Citizen Science, Education, Health, podcast

Pathways To Participate In Scientific Research

It just became a lot easier for you to find your first citizen science project thanks to partnerships with WILD HOPE (a new PBS series), NASA, the Girl Scouts, National Geographic, Verizon and others who make it possible for SciStarter to curate experiences for you! Our customized pages provide resources, community-support, trainings and step-by-step instructions … Read more “Pathways To Participate In Scientific Research”

Categories: Affiliate Tools, Animals, Citizen Science, Education

Get a Jump on the Heliophysics Big Year

On April 8, 2024, millions of people along a wide swath of territory running from Durango, Mexico up to Toronto, Canada will be waiting to experience an amazing total solar eclipse– the last one in North America until 2045. While they wait, they will be pacing around impatiently with nothing much to do. You on … Read more “Get a Jump on the Heliophysics Big Year”

Categories: Astronomy & Space, Citizen Science, Geology & Earth Sciences, Physics

Help scientists by playing these 5 video games (seriously!)

Think science is all work and no play? Celebrate National Video Games Day (September 12th) by helping scientists uncover meaningful information on important topics while simply playing games on your computer or cell phone! Want to learn more about how gaming can help science? Read more about the mechanics of data collection and analysis through … Read more “Help scientists by playing these 5 video games (seriously!)”

Categories: Citizen Science, Gaming

Get Ready for the Eclipse With Citizen Science!

For scientists studying the Sun, solar eclipses offer rare opportunities to do important research, like studying how the Sun’s corona, or outermost atmosphere, behaves. If you’re planning on being in the viewing path (see map below!) for an upcoming eclipse, you can collect and share important eclipse data with these five citizen science projects! And … Read more “Get Ready for the Eclipse With Citizen Science!”

Categories: Astronomy & Space, Citizen Science