“Never judge an ant at first glance,” warns Dr. Eleanor Spicer Rice, myrmecologist and head of the School of Ants project. Meet Forelius pruinosus. At first glance, it may seem a little unimpressive, even underwhelming. However, the more you learn about Forelius, the more you realize there’s more to it than meets the antennae. For […]

From the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Blog. April 23, 2013 Every day, across the country, ordinary Americans known as “citizen scientists” make critical contributions to the fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) by collecting, analyzing, and sharing a wide range of data—from weather phenomena, to sightings of migrating birds, […]

Dionn, MBA, Former Warriors cheerleader Regina, Medical Doctor, Former Redskins Cheerleader Laura, I.T.,Former Spurs Cheerleader Meet Science Cheerleaders Dionn, Laura and Regina on April 11 at the National Science Teachers Association in San Antonio from 2-3 pm and join them at the San Antonio Spurs game on 4/12 to collect microbes to send to space! […]

This post originally appeared on the PLOS Blog Network. We’re down to the Final Four in this year’s NCAA tournament, and chances are your bracket isn’t looking too good. Welcome to the club. Worry not! We’ve got four citizen science projects that will help you make the most of Final Four weekend. MICHIGAN WOLVERINES fans… […]

March may be ending, but March Madness is still in the air! Here are sixteen sweet projects in honor of the Sweet Sixteen: Cicada Tracker Families, armchair scientists and lovers of nature are invited to join in a bit of mass science: track the cicadas that emerge once every 17 years across New Jersey, New […]

Public Lab has launched Spectral Challenge, a two-part crowd funded project to improve the use of open source spectrometers. A spectrometer is a common research tool which uses light to identify an unknown substance’s chemical composition. Last year, members of the PLOTS community successfully developed a versatile and user friendly $40 spectrometer. While more accessible, […]

From the AAAS website: Have a research project that requires large data collection and analysis? Working on a tight budget and an even tighter timeline? Ever thought about outsourcing some of this work to the public? Using the power of the crowd, via the Internet and social media, citizens scientists can help get the job […]

Recently, someone asked us why we require a log-in before we send people off to other websites where they can get involved in a citizen science project. Although we haven’t heard this question from our community members, we thought we’d share our perspective with you. Perhaps you’ve wondered but never asked. When we started SciStarter, […]

Imagine something more mysterious than the trenches of the deep sea, more convoluted than the intricacies of the human genetic code, possibly even more infinite than the vastness of outer space. Meet the human brain. Memories, mental disorders, language capability, motor skills, and so much more are encoded in this singular organ. Yet, neuroscientists don’t […]

Here’s a link to a television news segment that aired this week on Minneapolis/St.Paul NBC affiliate Kare11’s. http://www.kare11.com/news/article/1013296/16/Scientists-call-for-your-good-germs-to-send-to-space Nice shout out to the SciStarter, Science Cheerleader, UCDavis citizen science project we are launching. It’s called Project MERCCURI! Sign up to get involved and send us microbes from your touchscreen device so we can compare patterns […]