Science in Seconds - Citizen Science

Science in Seconds Know Everything RAVES – Citizen Science Rheanna Sand: When you hear the word science, what comes to mind? Lonely PhDs mixing solutions in their labs late at night? That may be so, but the concept of the citizen scientist is making a comeback. Yes, you, the ordinary, plain, simple non‑ scientist, can make a difference, and not just as a guinea pig donating bodily fluids or taking part in a crazy psychological prison experiment. Nope: this science is the real kind of science, the kind that lets you collect meaningful data that will be analyzed and utilized in the scientific community. As a citizen scientist you can do awesome things like help the Zooniverse Project hunt for exploding stars, monitor bee populations through the Great Sunflower Project, or classify whale sounds by tuning into Whale.FM. You can even help solve the impossible puzzle of protein folding through a game called Foldit. But if you don't fancy identifying, observing, classifying or solving, you can still participate by simply leaving your computer on. SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, will gladly borrow that unused computing power to boost their search for ET. Even the kids are getting into it. In 2010, a group of seventh graders from Evergreen Middle School in Cottonwood, California, combed through images sent back from the Mars Rovers and found a brand new cave. And let's not forget, the famous Hale‑ Bopp Comet was basically discovered by a couple of dudes peering into telescopes in their driveways. Citizen scientists are continuing a long‑ lost tradition that was exemplified by some of our most beloved geeks: Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Benjamin Franklin all made their discoveries outside the confines of the ivory tower of academia. So what's stopping you from pitching in? In the time it takes to tweet Kony2012, you could have discovered a supernova. Courtesy of Science in Seconds - All rights reserved Only for educational/non-profit purposes. (Translators are invited to put their name here)