Blog: Citizen Science Projects, People, and Perspectives
By Brielle Fischman, Bradley Cosentino, and James Gibbs, Feb 09, 2021
In 1902, an international trade deal was brokered between the U.S. and Canada. Frank Baker, superintendent of the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, D.C., had been working on the deal for some time. In a letter from 1900 sent to several addresses in Ontario, Canada, Baker explains he is “very desirous of obtaining” a particular … Read more “City Squirrels Look Different. Is Evolution Driving a Color Change?”
Categories: Animals
By Robin Salthouse, Feb 06, 2021
Innovating and finding ways to stay connected to members has been a challenge for almost every organization during 2020. The Girl Scouts of Southeast Florida Council (GSSEF) were able to connect virtually through the Think Like a Citizen Scientist Journey on SciStarter during the summer of 2020. This effort allowed the Council to safely reach … Read more “Girl Scouts of Southeast Florida’s Model for Staying Virtually Connected to Citizen Science”
Categories: Citizen Science, Girl Scouts
By SciStarter Team, Feb 03, 2021
This post was originally published as a SciStarter newsletter. Sign up to receive bi-weekly citizen science in your inbox! Special project recommendations from our friends, the Science Cheerleaders! Hi! I’m Science Cheerleader Jeannie. I’m super excited for the Super Bowl this year, because in addition to currently being a Registered Nurse, I was a Tampa Bay Buccaneers Cheerleader! … Read more “Cheer On Citizen Science and the Superb Owl!”
Categories: Newsletter
By Nathaniel Scharping, Jan 29, 2021
Sometimes the old methods truly are the best methods. When astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto in 1930, it was the result of countless hours spent straining his eyes at a machine called a blink comparator. Using it, Tombaugh could flip rapidly back and forth between two images of the night sky taken at slightly different … Read more “Citizen Scientists Have Found Dozens of ‘Failed Stars’ Near Earth”
Categories: Astronomy & Space, Other
By Nathaniel Scharping, Jan 23, 2021
Winter weather and the persistent pandemic have pushed many of us to dream about the world beyond our walls. To help ease that wanderlust, we've compiled a list of virtual citizen science projects that let you globe-trot while staying safe and warm indoors. … Read more
Categories: Citizen Science, Newsletter
By Eric Betz, Jan 19, 2021
The future of individualized medicine may depend on an army of one million volunteers. And scientists want you to get involved. Researchers with the National Institutes of Health are recruiting citizen scientists to enlist in a study of unprecedented scope and depth. The program, called All of Us, promises to take personal data from a … Read more “How One Million Volunteers Could One Day Revolutionize Medicine”
Categories: Health
By Nathaniel Scharping, Jan 09, 2021
This post was originally published as a SciStarter newsletter. Sign up to receive bi-weekly citizen science in your inbox! Have you made your New Year’s Resolutions yet? If you haven’t (or even if you have), let us suggest one for you: Experiment with citizen science projects! To help you out, here are five projects from SciStarter … Read more “New Year’s Resolutions from SciStarter”
Categories: Citizen Science, Newsletter
By SciStarter Team, Jan 04, 2021
In its 4.5 billion year history, our planet has experienced five mass extinctions. Many scientists believe we are on the verge of a sixth mass extinction, and this one is on us. Humans are to blame. Planet at Risk The consequences of our actions too often go unseen. The impacts caused by driving a car … Read more “How Making a Picnic for Ants Can Help Us Understand This Crucial Species”
Categories: Ecology & Environment
By Bob Hirshon, Dec 29, 2020
This post was originally published as a SciStarter newsletter. Sign up to receive bi-weekly citizen science in your inbox! Thank you, SciStarter citizen scientists! Thanks to nearly 100,000 registered SciStarter users and many other visitors in 2020 alone, we collectively helped scientists accelerate research about COVID-19, monitor light pollution and climate change, catalogue biodiversity all around … Read more “Top 20 Citizen Science Projects of 2020”
Categories: Citizen Science News, Events, Featured Projects, Newsletter, NNLM
By Caroline Nickerson,
As part of continued programming with the Network of the National Library of Medicine and the All of Us Research Program, SciStarter hosted an event series in January, February and March to help you get started in one of three citizen science projects that advance real world research. How It Works This “Lend Citizen Science … Read more “Lend Citizen Science Project Scientists a Hand. Then, Discuss the Results!”
Categories: Events, Library, NNLM