Category: Guest Contributor

By: Nina Friedman When I hit a mental roadblock while I’m working, moving always helps. I can’t keep my brain moving unless my body is moving. I might get up from my desk and take a little walk but if I’m in a time crunch I’ll just fidget around in my chair or tap out […]

This article was originally posted on August 21, 2013 but we thought this project provided a great way to celebrate World Oceans Day even if you can’t make it to the beach! Calling all citizen scientists! It doesn’t matter where you are. You can still be an ‘honorary’ diver to help with this project. The […]

Today is National Repeat Day and what better way to celebrate than to publish an older post? A recent article in Astrophysical Journal Letters has shown that citizen scientists have just discovered the first brown dwarf through the Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project just four weeks after the project launched back in February.  Now, isn’t that worth repeating? […]

By Nina Friedman For decades, fair- and festival-goers around the country have volunteered to step right up and have a carnival busker guess their age. Now, guessing someone’s age through citizen science can contribute to research in the social and computer sciences and medicine, too. Everyday scientists and medical professionals are creating lifespan increasing technologies. […]

Citizen scientists learn how algorithms affect their online shopping and help researchers break open the “black box” of price-personalization By Chelsey Meyer Have you ever wondered whether you see the same online prices as other consumers? If not, you may want to after hearing about price personalization. While many Internet users may understand that algorithms […]

Izaak Walton League Celebrates Citizen Science Month With Project To Document Streams Across America By Danielle Donkersloot, Izaak Walton League Clean Water Program Director Every American has the right to know whether the streams running through their backyards and neighborhood parks are safe. But there is an alarming lack of up-to-date information about water quality across […]

This post is part of our Divers’ series. We encourage readers to continue the conversation by adding their own comments, question or concerns on our Facebook page. You’ll find links to other posts at the end of this story.  When Jason Holmberg saw his first whale shark 15 years ago while scuba diving off the coast […]

Who really benefits from citizen science? How can citizen science support STEM education?  How do we bring citizen science to new audiences? How can we leverage new technologies to expand student participation in citizen science projects? These were some of the questions we set out to discuss at the Citizen Science Meet-up at SXSWedu. SXSWedu […]

By Lishka Arata, Conservation Educator at Point Blue Despite the current administration’s efforts to roll back the Clean Water Act and dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency, interest and participation is growing in a new EPA- and stakeholder-led citizen science project that aims to inform clean water management. The Cyanobacteria Monitoring Collaborative has been gathering steam […]

By: Marc J. Kuchner Eighty-seven years ago, this week, Clyde Tombaugh was poring over a pair of photographic plates, hoping to change the world.  He was staring hard into an arcane device called a blink comparator, which allowed him to rapidly switch from viewing one image to the next. In those days before computers, that was […]