Learn, Contribute, Inspire

The social media era has made it possible for numerous communities of science enthusiast to congregate and pool their resources to together to tackle massive task-based projects. Through such ‘crowdsourcing‘ endeavors, every person (regardless of education or skill) can now contribute to the discoveries, cures, and innovations of tomorrow by lending a few minutes of their time.

Watch ‘Crowdsourcing for Science’, Seattle: Science Cafe lecture
Follow Crowdsourcing for Science on Facebook.

Crowdfund Beef Research

April 17, 2014CrowdfundingStephanie Zimmerman

Crowds Can Catalog Bugs Faster

April 17, 2014Crowd EffortsStephanie Zimmerman

Citizen Scientists search for #SickStarfish

January 30, 2014Crowd EffortsStephanie Zimmerman

As a mysterious wasting diseases continues to ravage the populations of sea stars up and down the West Coast of North America, concerned divers Laura James and Lamont Granquist have organized their own crowdsourcing initiative to collect pictures of both sick and non-sick sea stars from citizen scientists to help build a better baseline for researchers.

About the project, including a video of the wasting diseases: http://www.sickstarfish.com/static/about

Map of current reports:
http://www.sickstarfish.com/

News Articles:
http://earthfix.info/water/article/northwest-starfish-experiments-give-scientists-clu/

http://earthfix.info/water/article/calling-all-citizen-scientists-in-search-for-sicks/

Crowdfunds vs Grants

January 10, 2014CrowdfundingStephanie Zimmerman

As federal research grants dry up, more and more institutions are turning to crowdfunding for their projects. This article discusses the pitfalls and opportunities in either option. It also highlights some of the successful crowdfunding for science projects that have been lead by Microryza.

http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2013/10/18/amidst-budget-cuts-science-appeals-to-public/

Antitumor Compound found in Unusual Fungus

January 9, 2014Crowd EffortsStephanie Zimmerman

In this Spectroscopy Now article, David Bradley discusses how a potential antitumor compound was discovered through the efforts of crowdsourcing.

In the study, citizen scientists were asked to submit samples of soil from their gardens to a research team who then posted visual examples of fungus online for volunteers to identify. A soil sample from Alaska was found to have an unusual fungus that may have antitumor abilities.

http://www.spectroscopynow.com/details/ezine/142fbc55a3d/Crowdsourcing-drug-discovery-Antitumour-compound-identified.html?tzcheck=1

Find Near-Earth Objects

November 22, 2013Crowd EffortsStephanie Zimmerman

NASA and Planetary Resources Inc., of Bellevue, Wash., are partnering to develop
crowd-sourced software solutions to enhance detection of near-Earth objects
using agency-funded data. The agreement is NASA’s first partnership associated
with the agency’s Asteroid Grand Challenge.

http://www.nasa.gov/content/nasa-and-planetary-resources-sign-agreement-to-crowdsource-asteroid-detection/index.html#.Uo6Z57bap6A

http://www.planetaryresources.com/

Crowdsourced Disaster Response

November 20, 2013Crowd EffortsStephanie Zimmerman

In this Scientific American article, Declan Butler discusses how volunteers helped coordinate Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts by analyzing satellite images.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=crowdsourcing-goes-mainstream-in-typhoon-haiyan-response

SeaOrbiter 2014

November 6, 2013CrowdfundingStephanie Zimmerman

From Jacques-Yves Cousteau to Jacques Rougerie, this crowdfunded campaign will bring you the SeaOrbiter. With your help, this totally badass project hopes to begin construction in 2014.

http://www.kisskissbankbank.com/the-eye-of-seaorbiter?ref=search

SPARK Competition

November 1, 2013Crowd EffortsStephanie Zimmerman

The Science Play and Research Kit (SPARK) is a competition that more or less encourages the crowdsourced development of better science education.

Taking cues from the imagination of the 1940s and 60s chemistry set, competitors are encouraged to submit their reimagined science education toolsets designed to inspire new generations of future scientists for the 21st century. Competitors can win up t $50,000.

http://www.reimaginechemset.org/

Journey North – Migration Mapping

October 31, 2013Crowd EffortsStephanie Zimmerman

Anneberger Learner’s Journey North is a crowdsourcing endeavor that encourages citizens to report sightings of migrating birds. This data contributes to a global stud of wildlife migrations and seasonal change. Sightings can be reported through websites and smart phone apps. Migrations that are being tracked include: hummingbirds, whales, robins, monarch butterflies, whooping cranes, bald eagles, and other songbirds.

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/