Blog: Citizen Science Projects, People, and Perspectives
By Jenna Lang, May 16, 2014
Let us tell ‘ya about the birds and the bees — for citizen science, that is! Here are just a few buzz-worthy projects to get you started. Also, don’t forget to stop by DISCOVER Magazine and SciStarter’s online Citizen Science Salon; look for our new collaboration in the pages of Discover starting this month; or … Read more “Citizen Science for Lovers of Birds and Bees!”
Categories: Animals, Biology, Birds, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Insects, Nature & Outdoors
By Ian Vorster, May 09, 2014
Record plant observations and learn how changes in climate and habitat affect a plant’s lifecycle with Project Budburst. Track the phenology of plants and animals with these citizen science projects. Gardeners worldwide have their favorite sayings about when to plant, when to reap, how much rain is going to fall, or how dry it will … Read more “First Leaf, First Bud, First Fruit: Project Budburst”
Categories: Biology, Citizen Science, Climate & Weather, Ecology & Environment, Nature & Outdoors
By Lily Bui, May 04, 2014
Per the Environmental Protection Agency, the average American spends 90% of their time indoors. At the same time, when we think of citizen science, our mind’s eye often pictures the great outdoors: wide expanses of open space, jutting mountains, birds in trees, and frogs sitting near meandering streams. In part, that’s due to a perception … Read more “The Great Indoors: Sensing Carbon Monoxide Levels and Indoor Air Quality [GUEST POST]”
Categories: Citizen Science, Do-It-Yourself, Ecology & Environment, Guest Contributor
By Ian Vorster, Apr 22, 2014
It’s Earth Day! Celebrate the planet we live on with these amazing environmental citizen science projects! The Earth Day Network records that in 1970 the average American was funneling leaded gas through massive V8 engine blocks, and industry was exhausting toxic smoke into the air and chemical slush into the water with little legal consequence … Read more “3 Citizen Science Projects You Can Do on Earth Day”
Categories: Citizen Science, Climate & Weather, Ecology & Environment, Nature & Outdoors
By Lily Bui, Mar 20, 2014
This week on The Pulse and SciStarter’s segment about citizen science, producer Kimberly Haas highlights some spring projects that you can get involved in this season. Spring is in the air, and so it citizen science! As SciStarter founder Darlene Cavalier told WHYY, “Springtime is the time for citizen science […] So you can find, in … Read more “Citizen Science on the Radio: WHYY Features Spring Projects!”
Categories: Biology, Birds, Citizen Science, Climate & Weather, Ecology & Environment, In the News, Nature & Outdoors
By Jenna Lang,
The equinox is upon us. Budding trees and baby birds will soon greet us. As the weather gets warmer, be ready to Spring into action with these five springtime citizen science projects! Project BudBurst Help scientists understand the impacts of global climate change! Report data on the timing of leafing, flowering, and fruiting of plants … Read more “Spring is Here!”
Categories: Animals, Biology, Birds, Citizen Science, Climate & Weather, Ecology & Environment, Nature & Outdoors, Newsletter
By Ian Vorster,
Citizen scientists can help ID the progression of bacterial infection in plant cells by determining how “clumpy” plant cell images are. Explore the microbiome around and inside you with these citizen science projects! The language on the Clumpy homepage might be considered a challenge for the average citizen scientist: “The model plant-pathogen system comprising the … Read more “Feeling Clumpy?”
Categories: Biology, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment
By Lily Bui, Mar 19, 2014
Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Environmental Behaviors Project seeks help in sorting and ranking environmental stewardship. Many citizen science projects have been very successful in collecting high-quality scientific data through the participation of citizen scientists. However, less emphasis has been placed on documenting changes to citizen scientists themselves. In particular, many projects hope participants will increase their environmental … Read more “Measuring Environmental Stewardship”
Categories: Ecology & Environment, Guest Contributor
By Arvind Suresh, Feb 19, 2014
Public Lab’s DIY spectrometry kit makes it possible for citizen scientists to do their own spectrometric analysis at home. Come to your senses! SciStarter has curated a list of citizen science projects for all five senses. Spectrometry. Listen to yourself say it out loud. Admit it. It sounds cool just to say “spectrometry.”(Whoa you … Read more “Spec-tacular Science: Use Public Lab’s DIY Spectrometer to find out what stuff is made of!”
Categories: Apps, Biology, Chemistry, Citizen Science, Computers & Technology, Ecology & Environment, Ocean & Water
By Ian Vorster, Feb 09, 2014
The Field Photo Library project helps scientists document changes in landscape by sharing crowdsourced and archived field photos from all over the world. Find more citizen science projects for all five senses on SciStarter. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but what value does “any old geo-tagged photo” hold for a scientist? … Read more “Any Old Photo: The Field Photo Library Project”
Categories: Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Nature & Outdoors