Citizen Science Projects

Olivia Humes, Rising Senior, Imagineers

Whether you’re looking for something fun to do or want to continue learning about science this summer, citizen science projects are a great way to get involved with scientific research while still having fun. There are countless citizen science opportunities available through websites, apps, and more. But just what is citizen science, and how can you get involved in these projects?

Have you ever participated in Globe at Night, featured as a short activity in the springtime on the OLC? If so, then you’ve participated in citizen science! Citizen science is a method of performing research that involves the public at large, usually by using data collected or analyzed by ordinary people. Globe at Night falls into the first category--participants gather data about the darkness of the night sky in their area. Additionally, many citizen science projects have the goal of increasing awareness and participation in science as a whole. For example, the Globe at Night project teaches participants about the effects of light pollution and the techniques of naked-eye observation in astronomy.

A great place to get started with citizen science is the Zooniverse group of projects. Originally started with the Galaxy Zoo project, where users classified galaxies, the “Zooniverse” expanded to include other areas of astronomy, and eventually biology, anthropology, and climate science. Participants can look for planets in other solar systems, watch out for solar storms, analyze weather data from old ships’ logs, or look for wild animals on the Serengeti. Already, citizen scientists have discovered new planets, unknown features on the moon, and mysterious clumps of gas in interstellar space. And when a discovery is made, your name can be cited on a scientific research paper!

NASA also supports citizen science projects. Two examples are Stardust@Home and Be A Martian. In Stardust@Home, participants analyze pictures of the aerogel carried by the Stardust space probe in order to find particles from interstellar space captured by the mission. Be A Martian allows participants to explore the surface of Mars from images taken by Spirit, Opportunity, and Mars Odyssey, and take part in a community dedicated to learning more about Mars.

The Great Worldwide Star Count, scheduled for late October and early November will be familiar to anyone who has participated in Globe at Night. This project asks participants to report the darkness of their skies in order to study light pollution, and though it takes place later on in the year, it is a great reason to go outside and look up at the sky while contributing to scientific discovery.

Finally, for a citizen science project focused on biology, check out Phylo, a citizen science project designed like a puzzle game. This project attempts to align DNA sequences of related animals in order to better understand the common ancestry of different animals, and the way that diseases have evolved over time. This project, like many of the others mentioned, uses human brainpower as a more effective alternative to complicated computer algorithms. In many citizen science projects, from classifying galaxies to tracking evolution, the human brain is better at analyzing the data than any computer program.

Links to the projects mentioned can be found below. Remember, this is only a small sample of the citizen science projects available, so look around for a project that interests you!

The Zooniverse projects: https://www.zooniverse.org/

Stardust@Home: http://stardustathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/

Be A Martian: http://beamartian.jpl.nasa.gov/welcome

The Great Worldwide Star Count: http://www.windows2universe.org/citizen_science/starcount/

Phylo: http://phylo.cs.mcgill.ca/beta