Imagine trying to uncover the meaning behind all the words in the English language. Well, that’s what dictionaries are for, right? Not quite. According to Joshua Hartshorne, the director of MIT’s Games With Words, our current understanding of any word is simply based on its relationship with other words. That’s precisely the problem. To provide […]

  I like to call it an antipiphany* – that striking realization of the magnitude of what can be known, which reduces what you actually understand to a paltry amount. I’ve seen it again and again with graduate students: they enroll feeling like smarty-pants, and within a year they are humbled by an antipiphany. Eventually […]

SciStarter’s editors write and manage the SciStarter blog and the CitizenSci blog on the Public Library of Science website. They are planning a series of posts to review research outcomes and emergent technologies from a representative set of projects. If you’d like to share the research outcomes from your project and new, related emergent technologies, […]

DNA, RNA, and proteins are literally the stuff of life. These building blocks need to be stacked just so or things can go awry. Help researchers twist, fold, push and pull these tiny molecules into various shapes by playing these fun games. Or, let your computer fold proteins while you sleep! Here are this week’s featured […]

Recruit More Participants for Your Project Did you know that in addition to the services we provide at no cost, SciStarter helps grantees and organizations reach new audiences and broaden the impact of research? Consider SciStarter as you develop your grant proposals! We identify and recruit targeted participants for citizen science projects. Whether you are […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is on a new mission: to encourage citizen scientists to learn more about the air, water, and resources around them. Earlier this year, the EPA’s Region 2 office announced its newest tool, MyEnvironment. This project provides immediate access to a cross-section of environmental data for any geographical location in the […]

Get out the data: making change through citizen science  Non-partisan campaigns to get out the vote occur before every election. It helps remind us of our rights and responsibilities to participate in a democratic society. But we all too often forget that voting is only one of the ways we can contribute to our collective […]

Tickled pink that SciStarter is mentioned in this Family Fun article (also see July 2013 issue on newsstands now). We just love reaching new audiences and broadening the impact of the research projects featured in the SciStarter Project Finder. Be a citizen naturalist. The scientists who study nature need our help! These apps and websites […]

Summertime—the living’s easy, and citizen science is too! Whether you’re headed to the beach, camping, or simply sitting back and enjoying life in the slower lane this season, we have something for you. With days getting longer, SciStarter encourages you to use this extra time to take a closer look at the world around you. […]

The editors at ExtremeTech scoured projects featured on SciStarter and highlighted their favorites. Are your favorite projects among those featured here? If not, post a comment to let the editors know! If you are looking for a place where you can get involved in science projects, specifically citizen science ones, then SciStarter is the place […]