SciStarter’s 2022 Holiday Gift Guide Is Here!

The best gift is one that keeps on giving, and these nifty tools and resources certainly fit the bill! We’ve got useful gifts for birdwatchers, skygazers and weather-trackers, as well as books that will inspire anyone’s curiosity. Even better, many of these ideas tie directly in with one or more citizen science projects on SciStarter. … Read more “SciStarter’s 2022 Holiday Gift Guide Is Here!”

Categories: Affiliate Tools, Animals, Apps, Astronomy & Space, Biology, Birds, book, Book Review, Citizen Science, Climate & Weather, Education, Environment, Field Guide to Citizen Science, Nature & Outdoors, Newsletter

Can This Cheap, DIY Pollution Sensor Help the World Get Clean Air?

A few years ago, Alvaro Antonio Vanegas, a software engineer and avid cyclist, got tired of the air pollution problems in his hometown of Bogota, Colombia. He decided to join forces with an activist already researching the problem, Daniel Bernal, who he’d heard was building his own rudimentary air quality sensors and using them to … Read more “Can This Cheap, DIY Pollution Sensor Help the World Get Clean Air?”

Categories: Citizen Science, Environment

Figure 4: Selected air quality sensors at the ADEQ reference monitor site in South Phoenix.

SciStarter, researchers, regulators, and community residents collaborate to test air quality sensors

In early 2018, Scistarter and Arizona State University began the process of collaborating with a local community, Boulder Ridge, to measure the quality of its air. Boulder Ridge is a 55 and older retirement community in Phoenix. Over the past three years, Boulder Ridge residents began to notice increased blasting, crushing, and trucking out of … Read more “SciStarter, researchers, regulators, and community residents collaborate to test air quality sensors”

Categories: Citizen Science, Tools

Citizen Science in the City

We’ve got a big weekend coming up for science! Not only is Citizen Science Day on April 14th, it’s also the March for Science and we’re also preparing for the City Nature Challenge! We’ve pulled together a long list of projects you could do in a city, so there’s something for everyone! So, plan your weekend now and find a Citizen … Read more “Citizen Science in the City”

Categories: Birds, Citizen Science, Climate & Weather, Computers & Technology, Ecology & Environment, Events, Featured Projects, Insects, National Citizen Science Day, Nature & Outdoors, Newsletter

Out of Sight, Out Of Mind: Visualizing the Invisible

When smog is so thick that it clouds our vision, we can see and acknowledge that air pollution is a problem. In December of last year, China issued its second ever red alert, their highest rating for air pollution, and last month, London broke modern air pollution records. But on days when the haze has … Read more “Out of Sight, Out Of Mind: Visualizing the Invisible”

Categories: Citizen Science, Health, Project Profile

Help Shape New Directions in Open Science: Vote for your favorite Innovation!

By: Elizabeth Kittrie, Senior Advisor for Data Science, National Institutes of Health In the spirit of open science – a movement to make data and other information from scientific research available to everyone — the National Institutes of Health invites you to cast your vote and help us decide which of the projects competing for … Read more “Help Shape New Directions in Open Science: Vote for your favorite Innovation!”

Categories: Citizen Science, Guest Contributor, Health, Other

12 Days of Christmas with Citizen Science (seriously!)

The holiday season is upon us! In the spirit of the season, we’ve put together another edition of our annual 12 Days of Christmas Newsletter. ANNNNNNNND…as our gift to you, we’ve made it possible for you to track your citizen science contributions and interests in one place! Check out the beta version of SciStarter 2.0. … Read more “12 Days of Christmas with Citizen Science (seriously!)”

Categories: Animals, Astronomy & Space, Birds, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Newsletter

Enter EPA’s Smart City Air Challenge!

What if you had access to air quality data — minute-by- minute — from hundreds of locations in your community at the same time? How would you manage that data– and how would you share it with your local residents? The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is offering two communities $40,000 each to help figure that out. Currently, environmental … Read more “Enter EPA’s Smart City Air Challenge!”

Categories: Citizen Science, Project Profile

Groundbreaking Air Quality Study Demonstrates the Power of Citizen Science

  Editors Note: This is a guest post by Gwen Ottinger, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Center for Science, Technology, and Society at Drexel University.  She has done extensive research on community-based air monitoring and community-industry relations around oil refineries.  She is author of Refining Expertise: How Responsible Engineers Subvert Environmental Justice Challenges (NYU Press … Read more “Groundbreaking Air Quality Study Demonstrates the Power of Citizen Science”

Categories: CitSci Research, Ecology & Environment