Luc Henry, EPFL – École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne
The hobbyists who conduct biology in their garage are not a threat to society, according to a recent report published by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. They aren’t developing a new…
The trail of a meteor that caused some harm, but mostly helped humanity understand the meteorite strikes on Earth.
alexeya
The asteroid impact that burst over Chelyabinsk, Russia, on the morning of February 15 has provided a huge collection of new data that scientists have been analysing since. This week, three papers, two…
NASA has built up a strong network of science enthusiasts who can step in when the agency shuts down.
NASA HQ PHOTO
Now that the US government is back in business, all “non-essential” services will resume. For 15 days we went without NASA’s full operation, US Antarctic research and federally-funded clinical studies…
Citizen science: how do your trees measure up?
Yui Mok/PA
Everyone can contribute to scientific research, whether by exploring far-flung galaxies from the comfort of their computer, or by checking how clean the air is in their street by examining lichens growing…
Name an exoplanet, you don’t need to be a scientist for that.
UCL Mathematical and Physical Sciences
Public participation in science is increasing, and citizen science has a central part in this. It is a contribution by the public to research, actively undertaken and requiring thoughtful action. Citizen…
People from all walks of life and all corners of the world are becoming scientists. Citizen science empowers those with an interest in any area from ecology to astronomy to be a part of the scientific…
Hands up if you want to be a citizen scientist.
__Jens__
Amateur astronomers in Russia made a discovery last week any professional would envy - it seems they may have identified the remnants of the ill-fated Soviet Mars 3 lander, 30 years after it lost contact…
A scientist training a volunteer on how to collect data on web-building spiders.
John Gollan
Citizen science occurs when data for scientific research is collected by members of the public in a voluntary capacity. Public participation in environmental projects, in particular, has been described…
For 60 years Sir David Attenborough has brought the “extraordinary” of far off lands closer to home. In some aspects, Sir Dave has brought it so close that the only experiences you miss from not travelling…
A renewed interest in citizen science could help engage the wider public in research projects.
Mount Rainier NPS
Academic discussions of citizen science are all the rage right now (see here, and here, and here). While most describe the successes of individual projects, none (to my knowledge) have taken the long view…
Would you like to take “ownership” of a black swan?
Catherine Payne
You may have heard that a male black swan was widowed by rock-throwing children in Melbourne recently. The event caused ripples of public concern, but also revealed how little we know about these iconic…