Category: Animals

A study led by researchers at the University of Maine spearheaded a new approach to finding where ticks love to lurk. The Maine Forest Tick Survey trained hundreds of woodland owners in Maine to systematically comb their properties for disease-toting ticks to discern how forest management may influence the pest’s prevalence. Ticks pose a growing […]

Introduction Hundreds of delegates from around the world converged at Arizona State University (ASU) for the Citizen Science Association’s C*Sci 2023 conference, May 22-26, 2023 to exchange knowledge and help shape and advance opportunities to engage the public in scientific research. Summarizing a week of action-packed days in a single blog post won’t convey the […]

In the United States, it is estimated that more than one million vertebrate animals are killed by vehicle collisions every day. Yet, despite the ubiquity of roadkill, there is actually little comprehensive data on how many animals are killed by cars every year. The U.S. has no national database for roadkill, and most states don’t […]

Our oceans are vast, powerful and mysterious — and even after centuries of study, there are still many things scientists don’t know about our planet’s blue expanses. But the ocean affects all of our lives intimately, even those of us who live far from the coast. Oceans provide food for billions of people, shape weather […]

Do you know the fictional Japanese monster Godzilla? We present to you its miniature version — the very real marine iguana. Marine iguanas are a quirky, charismatic species of reptile living in the tropical paradise of the Galápagos Islands. People often refer to them as mini-Godzillas or marine dragons, but they are definitely not monstrous. […]

Sharks get a lot more attention than, say, sea cucumbers, possibly because sharks tend to have much bigger teeth. They even get their own week! (note to Discovery Channel: please find room for Sea Cucumber Week). And yet, as marine scientist and shark expert David Shiffman points out, scientists are still discovering new things about […]

Lost your smartphone? Rabbits eating all your sunflowers? Can’t seem to find opportunities right for you? Sometimes doing citizen science can bring some unexpected problems. But take heart — whatever challenge you’re facing, you’re likely not the first one to deal with it.  We surveyed SciStarter’s users about the problems they’ve encountered while trying to […]

When the global pandemic hit, acclaimed wildlife filmmaker Martin Dohrn, locked down in his small city garden in Bristol, England, decided to turn the cameras on the wildlife in his backyard. He was particularly fascinated with the bees visiting his garden. Putting his unparalleled skills and cameras to use, he filmed more than 60 different […]

Does a dog ever think, in their own way, “That sure looks like a squirrel, but I could be mistaken?”  Throughout history, humans have thought that our ability to reflect on our own thinking — what scientists call metacognition — distinguishes us from other animals. But there’s growing evidence that’s not the case. Researchers have […]

In the past 40 years, butterfly populations have declined dramatically across the American West, both in cities and in the wilderness. Overall, butterflies are now declining at a rate of 1.6 percent each year. That’s what researchers using butterfly observations from citizen scientists and professional researchers found in a recent study. Their work, drawing from […]