Blog: Citizen Science Projects, People, and Perspectives
By John Ohab, Oct 19, 2010
The USA Science & Engineering Festival culminates this weekend, October 23-24, with a ginormous Expo featuring over 1,500 fun activities on the National Mall in Washington, DC. The Science for Citizens team will be there to host our very own exhibit, which will feature several partner citizen science organizations and opportunities to participate in real, … Read more “Meet Our Festival Collaborators: Anne from Earthwatch”
Categories: Animals, Biology, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Nature & Outdoors, Science Education Standards, USA Science and Engineering Festival
By Michael Gold, Oct 12, 2010
The mysterious widespread deaths of honey bees over the last four years has been a great worry, both to backyard gardeners and large agricultural companies. That’s why it was such welcome news last week when Army scientists in Maryland and bee experts in Montana reported they had discovered a likely cause: a fatal combination of … Read more “After a clue on colony collapse, what’s status of honey bees?”
Categories: Biology, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Insects, Nature & Outdoors
By Elizabeth Walter, Sep 16, 2010
Crisp fall air in the northeastern Appalachian Mountains will soon signal trees to splash entire hillsides with red, yellow, and orange as far as the eye can see. The Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) hopes that many future generations of hikers will be able to enjoy similarly colorful views to the horizon. However, they need your … Read more “Mountain monitors needed”
Categories: Biology, Citizen Science, Climate & Weather, Ecology & Environment, Nature & Outdoors
By Darlene Cavalier, Sep 13, 2010
Love ’em or not, squirrels play an important role in local ecology. Mapping changes in their population can help researchers better understand–and predict–a range of corollary environmental changes. As described on the Project Squirrel website, “Squirrels can be important indicators of local ecology because they are resident in small territories and active year round, they … Read more “Squirrels: spot, jot, share your sightings”
Categories: Animals, Biology, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment
By Darlene Cavalier, Sep 08, 2010
Looking for a convenient way to identify birds during your next citizen science excursion? Consider the WildLab Bird iPhone app, which uses photographs, audio, and maps to help you determine which bird you’ve spotted and makes it easy to share the observation with researchers at Cornell University’s Lab of Ornithology. Here’s how it works: Visit … Read more “Don’t know a chickadee from a warbler? There’s an app for that!”
Categories: Animals, Apps, Birds, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Nature & Outdoors, Science Education Standards
By Michael Gold, Sep 03, 2010
As summer comes to a close, a young person’s fancy may turn to fretting at the thought of being cooped up in a classroom. But for fans of science and nature—and by that we mean kids who like to watch clouds, hunt mushrooms, prowl around graveyards, and check out what gets squashed on the side … Read more “10 back-to-school projects for citizen scientists”
Categories: Animals, Astronomy & Space, Citizen Science, Climate & Weather, Ecology & Environment, Nature & Outdoors, Physics
By Susan West, Aug 31, 2010
Sometimes, science is the happy companion of art. Take Spiral Jetty, a piece by the late sculptor Robert Smithson. In 1970, Smithson arranged 6,650 tons of basalt boulders into a spiral that reaches 1,500 feet into the Great Salt Lake. Built during a drought, the stony coil soon disappeared beneath the lake’s rising, algae-reddened waters. … Read more “Picture Post: the art of citizen science”
Categories: Citizen Science, Climate & Weather, Ecology & Environment
By Darlene Cavalier, Aug 30, 2010
Think you can spot the difference between and a honey bee and a bumble bee? Well, there’s one day left to test your bee knowledge with the online Bee Challenge, brought to you by the folks at the Great Pollinator Project! A collaboration between the Greenbelt Native Plant Nursery and the Center for Biodiversity and … Read more “Map pollination while beautifying your garden”
Categories: Climate & Weather, Ecology & Environment, Insects
By Elizabeth Walter, Aug 19, 2010
A recent bike ride took me past a dead buck lying by the side the road – a testament to the dangers faced by both animals and people as we continue to build out our roadways. A few miles later, after noticing the remains of a couple of unfortunate squirrel-car encounters, I started to wonder … Read more “Where did the turtle cross the road?”
Categories: Animals, Biology, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Nature & Outdoors, Science Education Standards
By Elizabeth Walter, Aug 12, 2010
For those citizen scientists in the western states who like staying up late, here’s your chance to spy on some winged mammals for science. Two monitoring projects still need your help observing and listening for bats this summer. Citizen scientists in Seattle are needed to help researchers determine what types of bats are chirping in … Read more “Two batty science projects”
Categories: Animals, Bats, Biology, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Insects, Nature & Outdoors
