A time-series analysis of tree cover loss before, during and after road construction reveals a strong relationship between infrastructure development and accelerating deforestation.
Diana Kleine using a CoralWatch chart to measure coral health.
Chris Roelfsema/CoralWatch
The impact of plant disease may be reduced if people are made aware of the many pathways for plant-killing microbes – and why preventing their spread matters to us all.
An artist’s impression of some of the thousands of exoplanets discovered by NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope.
NASA/JPL
To help find Planet 9, you just need a computer and a little astronomy knowledge. Already, 120,000 images have been processed by citizen scientists in just 3 days.
Red-breasted Nuthatches are irrupting this winter across North America.
Heather Elaine Ritchie/Flickr
Archer Larned, University of Maryland, Baltimore County e Sarah Luttrell, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
During bird irruptions, hundreds or thousands of a single species show up outside their normal territory. Most of what we know about irruptions comes from data collected by citizen scientists.
Dr. Kofi Amegah of the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, installing a small air sensing unit built by the University of Massachusetts.
Kofi Amegah
Citizens and activists are using cheap off-the-shelf sensors to collect their own data on air pollution. It’s a promising trend, but these devices have serious technical limitations.
Remote mountain regions are closer to the climate problem than we think, particularly in the context of safeguarding essential ecosystem services such as safe and adequate water.
A wax figure of Charles Darwin, whose theories about species have influenced science for centuries.
Jose Manuel Ribeiro/Reuters
Humans have an innate interest and ability in naming biologically meaningful entities, or species. Taxonomy, then, vies for the title of world’s “oldest profession”.
A fun game, plus science advancement.
Madde/YouTube
We recently set up a Foldit competition between gamers, undergraduate students and professional scientists. The winner might surprise you – and offer important possibilities for scientific research.
It is important to clean bird baths regularly.
Glenn Pure
Bird baths are more than just ornamental splash pools. They’re also a site where animals socialise and intense rivalries play out. And bird bath design, location and cleanliness can have a big impact.
It’s not easy to find wildlife in a country as vast as Australia.
Euan Ritchie
This method of crowdsourcing science legwork is ready to expand into other disciplines – and maybe the amateurs themselves can start calling some of the shots.
Science communication puts research under the microscope.
Shutterstock
Science communication has grown in leaps and bounds over the past 60 years. It plays a crucial role in democratising science and making it less mysterious.
The Changzheng-2F rocket with the Shenzhou-10 manned spacecraft carries three Chinese astronauts to the space station Tiangong-1.
EPA/STR
The find by citizen scientists of at least 40 galaxies in a cluster more than a billion light years away is the astronomical equivalent of finding a needle in a haystack.
Demand is growing for statistical ecologists to research climate change. Rapidly growing mega-cities in Africa, like Lagos, face the highest risks.
Reuters/Akintunde Akinleye