Holt Library: STEM/STEAM: Citizen Science

STEM/STEAM News

Top 8 science stories of 2018
Last year, we started our STEM Tuesday column covering science, technology, engineering, and math education across the state. Check out our top 8 stories for 2018, which include stories from Charlotte to Wilmington. Published 1/30/2019 by EDnc.org
Watch the November 15, 2019 spacewalk!
On Friday, November 15, 2019, two astronauts ventured outside the International Space Station for the first of a series of complex spacewalks to repair a cosmic ray detector.
Exoplanet Archive from NASA Exoplanet Science Institute
The NASA Exoplanet Archive is an online astronomical exoplanet and stellar catalog and data service that collates and cross-correlates astronomical data and information on exoplanets and their host stars, and provides tools to work with these data.
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This research has made use of the NASA Exoplanet Archive, which is operated by the California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under the Exoplanet Exploration Program.
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) activities for K-12 to have fun at home with you
Keep your family engaged this summer and fall with #NASAatHome STEM learning activities.

Artemis

10 Ways for Students to Join Artemis (twin sister to Apollo)
Find resources designed to help you learn more about the missions and teams, plan your own Moon mission, design an app to map the Moon's surface, launch a rocket and more!
Make Artemis
Explore hands-on activities and DIY projects.

The 2021 Periodical Cicada Emergence (Brood X)

The 2021 Periodical Cicada Emergence (Brood X): Original Research
Brood X Outstanding Questions:

What is the northern limit of Brood X in Michigan, and what populations exist in northern Ohio?
Are the three species groups (-decim, -cassini, and -decula) equally represented among stragglers?
Brood X comes into contact with Brood XIX in south eastern Illinois. To what extent, if any, do these broods overlap, and are their boundaries stable?
Brood X comes into contact with Brood XXIII in southern Indiana. To what extent, if any, do these broods overlap, and are their boundaries stable?

Become a citizen scientist!

Science is our most reliable system of gaining new knowledge and citizen science is the public involvement in inquiry and discovery of new scientific knowledge. A citizen science project can involve one person or millions of people collaborating towards a common goal. Typically, public involvement is in data collection, analysis, or reporting.

Here are four common features of citizen science practice: (a) anyone can participate, (b) participants use the same protocol so data can be combined and be high quality, (c) data can help real scientists come to real conclusions, and (d) a wide community of scientists and volunteers work together and share data to which the public, as well as scientists, have access.

The fields that citizen science advances are diverse: ecology, astronomy, medicine, computer science, statistics, psychology, genetics, engineering and many more. The massive collaborations that can occur through citizen science allow investigations at continental and global scales and across decades—leading to discovery that a single scientist could never achieve on their own.

"Amateur science," "crowdsourced science," “volunteer monitoring,” and "public participation in scientific research" are also common aliases for citizen science.

Starter Kit for Citizen Scientists
A citizen scientist is an individual who voluntarily contributes his or her time, effort, and resources toward scientific research in collaboration with professional scientists or alone. These individuals don’t necessarily have a formal science background.

Today, citizen scientists come from all walks of life and have many advocates in the scientific community, including current and former NFL and NBA cheerleaders in science professions who tune thousands of non-traditional audiences into citizen science; online gamers who lend their skills to specially designed programs to analyze folding protein structures and shape the building blocks of life; and students who want a more hands-on experience outside the classroom. Retirees, environmental justice advocates, and even prisoners are getting involved.
Bumble Bee Watch
Bumble Bee Watch is a collaborative effort to track and conserve North America’s bumble bees. This community science project allows for individuals to:
--Upload photos of bumble bees to start a virtual bumble bee collection;
--Identify the bumble bees in your photos and have your identifications verified by experts;
--Help researchers determine the status and conservation needs of bumble bees;
--Help locate rare or endangered populations of bumble bees;
--Learn about bumble bees, their ecology, and ongoing conservation efforts; and
--Connect with other community scientists.
Using Community Science to Conserve Bumble Bees
In honor of Citizen Science Month, the Chatham County Center of North Carolina Cooperative Extension conducted a webinar on April 30 on Using Community Science to Conserve Bumble Bees. Presenters Rich Hatfield (Xerces Society) and Debbie Roos (North Carolina Cooperative Extension) discussed the role of bumble bees as pollinators, their life cycle, diversity, conservation status, and how to enhance populations by providing forage and nesting sites. Participants learned about the history of Bumble Bee Watch, a community science project that tracks North America’s bumble bees, and also some basics of bumble bee anatomy and how to submit a bumble bee sighting to help with conservation.

Want to Be an Astronaut?

NASA Accepting Applications
Have you always dreamed of being an astronaut? Here’s you chance. For the first time in more than four years, NASA is accepting applications for future astronauts. The application period began March 1, 2020, and aspiring moon to Mars explorers have until March 31 to apply. NASA expects to select final astronaut candidates in mid-2021.
The call for more astronauts comes at a time when the agency is preparing to send the first woman and next man to the moon with the Artemis program.