Author: John

Recent earthquakes in China, Haiti, Chili, Mexico, and elsewhere have provided a clear reminder of the devastation and loss of human life that can occur when an earthquake strikes in populated areas. Though scientists cannot currently predict earthquakes, there is an amazing wealth of research being conducted around the world to provide a better understanding of […]

One of my favorite books of all time is Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree, a tale about the relationship between a boy and a selfless tree that does whatever it can to make the boy happy. Even as an adult, the book still gives me a renewed appreciation for the many ways in which trees […]

Here’s a great way to mix science and adventure on your next Hawaiin vacation. The Coral Reef Alliance has developed a web portal that integrates citizen science and reef monitoring to protect the ecological health of Hawaii’s reefs. The new website is intended to provide a one-stop shop for volunteers to enter data that corresponds to a […]

It’s springtime in our Nation’s Capital, and one of my favorite organizations, Casey Trees, is enlisting community volunteers to help restore the tree population one tree at a time. Casey Trees specially trains local volunteers, known as “citizen foresters”, to lead groups of community tree planters and build awareness about the importance of urban forests. […]

You know an organization is serious about science when they dedicate 15 years to a research project. Well, that’s exactly what the Seattle Aquarium is doing with their citizen science program — a fifteen year program to characterize and study the habitats of seven Seattle-area beaches. At the heart of the program are teams of citizen science-trained high school […]

Jellyfish, in addition to being one of many ocean creatures that terrify me, are an important part of the underwater ecosystem. However, several reports have indicated an unusually high increase in Jellyfish populations, and scientists are in need of help to understand why. Enter JellyWatch, a new citizen science project that aims to create a database of jellyfish […]

Are you a Westchester (NY), Putnam (NY), or Fairfield County (CT) resident just itching for a reason to dust off that old boombox? If so, the The Who’s Whoo-ing citizen science project needs you to play a CD of owl calls for 10 minutes and record if a response is heard. Using simple “call playback surveys”, the Mianus River […]

Tired of winter? Are snowball fights, sledding, and snowmen just not cutting it anymore? I just might have the cure for those winter blues: SnowTweets, a new citizen science project that uses the popular micro-blogging service, Twitter, to gather snow depth measurements from all over the world. Measuring snow is actually as easy as sticking […]

The coolest new citizen science project may also be the HOTTEST! Launched this week, Solar Stormwatch is looking to citizen scientists to help spot explosions on the sun and track them across space to Earth. These explosions, also known as “coronal mass ejections” or “solar storms”, release high-energy particles that can be a safety hazard for […]

Here’s your chance to be part of science history! In the video below, Andy Farke and Matt Wedel introduce the Open Dinosaur Project, a collaborative research effort to develop a database of dinosaur bone measurements. The best part? You don’t need formal scientific training, a background in research, or even to have seen the Jurassic […]