A newly installed citizen science station at Cary’s Downtown Park is inviting visitors to become part of a long-term experiment in watching nature change.
The installation, called a Chronolog, looks simple at first glance: a sturdy post with a small platform for your smartphone. But it is part of a growing citizen-science network designed to document how landscapes evolve over time.
Located at the park’s lower pond, citizen scientists (that’s you) place their phone on the platform, line up the shot using a guide on the sign, and upload the image. Submissions are added to an online time-lapse, building a visual record of how the pond, its plants, and its wildlife change through seasons and weather.
The lower pond isn’t just ornamental; it is a working ecosystem shaped by stormwater, native plants, and careful management. One of the most important species here is the American lotus, Nelumbo lutea, and the horticulture team that cares for the park is eager to see how it changes over time.
The fast-growing aquatic plant limits algae growth by absorbing excess nutrients in stormwater before it enters the Walnut Creek drainage system. Their broad leaves provide habitat for invertebrates that prey on mosquito larvae.
Since installation, the station has collected 85 photos from 73 contributors.
Similar stations have been installed from Hawaii to Virginia. Visitors to a boardwalk overlooking a salt marsh at the Keālia Pond National Wildlife Refuge in Hawaii can contribute with images of migratory birds along wtth endangered birds native to Hawaii. Visitors to Shenandoah National Park can contribute images of seasonal and other changes along two overlooks.
For lovers of cool astronomy and math, this finding is a real treat. Citizen astronomers stumbled upon not one but two rings of extragalactic radio signals crossing each other to form a near-perfect Venn diagram.
A paper published October 2 in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society identifies this strangely geometric object as an “odd radio circle” (ORC), vast rings of magnetized plasma. These rings, only visible at radio wavelengths, emit non-thermal synchrotron radiation. They’re also gigantic, typically spanning hundreds of thousands of light-years. Astronomers have only documented a small handful of cases, but this particular pair of rings is reportedly the most distant and most powerful so far.
What’s more, the researchers found two more powerful radio signals that offer valuable information about the dynamics of ORCs, first discovered six years ago.
“ORCs are among the most bizarre and beautiful cosmic structures we’ve ever seen—and they may hold vital clues about how galaxies and black holes co-evolve, hand-in-hand,” said Ananda Hota, study lead author and founder of the RAD@home Astronomy Collaboratory for citizen science research, in a statement.
An ongoing puzzle
As the name suggests, odd radio circles are only visible to radio telescopes, which operate at comparatively low frequencies. At other frequencies, or wavelengths, they become invisible—one reason they only recently came into view, owing to advances in radio astronomy.
Given their novelty, astronomers have yet to pinpoint an exact cause for odd radio circles. The handful of detections so far have suggested they could be shockwaves from merging galaxies or black holes, or even the remnants of supernovas. Either way, ORCs almost always materialize near large galaxies, hinting there should be some correlation between the two.
The new discovery raises another possibility. What if these rings are the product of “superwinds” compressing dormant radio lobes? Galactic superwinds can emerge from a variety of powerful extragalactic events, which could explain why past ORC observations had conflicting sources.
Many moving parts
The other two radio signals that the researchers found nearby also support this hypothesis. Specifically, these were two gigantic galaxies in a crowded galaxy cluster that were blasting out powerful jets of plasma and radio emissions. Their activity, coupled with the local environment, likely helped shape the rings, the researchers said.
Optical RGB image from the Legacy Surveys, overlaid with radio emission in red from the LOFAR Two-Metre Sky Survey (LoTSS), showing the ‘odd radio circle’ (ORC) RAD J131346.9+500320. Credit: Rad@home Astronomy Collaboratory
“These discoveries show that ORCs and radio rings are not isolated curiosities,” noted Pratik Dabhade, study co-author and an astronomer at the National Centre for Nuclear Research in Poland, in the statement. “They are part of a broader family of exotic plasma structures shaped by black hole jets, winds, and their environments.”
The signals were first detected by citizen scientists using the Low Frequency Array, a sensitive radio telescope based in Europe. Professional scientists associated with the RAD@home Astronomy Collaboratory helped assess and confirm the validity of their findings.
“The fact that citizen scientists uncovered them highlights the continued importance of human pattern recognition, even in the age of machine learning,” Dabhade added.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, September 15, 2022 (Newswire.com)
– The Microdosing and Meditation Study, led by Beckley Foundation in collaboration with Psychedelic Data Society and Quantified Citizen (QC), seeks to observe how meditation skills evolve over three months of regular meditation practice and whether, how, and for whom microdosing (the repeated use of low sub-perceptual doses of psychedelics) may impact these skills.
‘Enhancing Mindfulness’ was reported as the most widely endorsed motivation for microdosing (Rootman et al., 2021) in the largest microdosing study to date, Microdose.me, which was conducted by Quantified Citizen in collaboration with University of British Columbia and Maastricht University. The study was launched in 2019 and is still running with over 20,000 participants to date. Despite the growing evidence of overlap between the neurophysiology and phenomenology of psychedelic drug-induced states and contemplative practices, no research to date has specifically assessed the effect of microdosing on meditation practice.
“In my opinion, psychedelics can be used as tools to get into a higher state of awareness, which, rather like a farmer preparing the ground for seeding, can help achieve a more fertile ground for either meditation or creative thinking. No research has been conducted so far on the effect of microdosing on meditation practice, and I am very curious to find out if regular meditators do experience measurable benefits from microdosing,” shares Amanda Feilding, director of the Beckley Foundation.
The results of this study will help guide future research and improve understanding of the effects of microdosing. Ideally, this will lead to better safety and insight into potential benefits and risk factors.
Why should you participate?
This study will help you (whether you use psychedelics or not) engage in a useful self-reflexive process, where you can evaluate, through a protocol carefully designed by a psychology researcher and meditation expert, the ways in which your meditation practice evolves over time, and whether, and in what way, microdosing interacts with this practice. You may also help increase the current scientific understanding of the effects of psychedelic microdosing on meditation.
Who can participate?
The study will gather data from all meditation practitioners, whether or not they use psychedelics.
How to participate
To join, please enroll in the Microdose.me study on the Quantified Citizen app. Microdose.me shares standardized assessments with the Microdosing and Meditation Study to avoid repetition. After this first step, you will unlock the Microdosing and Meditation onboarding process.
Quantified Citizen is a citizen science-powered health research app. It has a growing library of studies on interventions, techniques and emerging trends.
To fuel further growth and development of new study capabilities, Quantified Citizen is currently in the process of raising its Seed+ round of funding.
World’s first “Citizen Science” award will be presented to students by the Human Computation Institute at a middle school assembly tomorrow
Press Release –
updated: Dec 20, 2017
BOISE, Idaho, December 20, 2017 (Newswire.com)
– Middle school students are being awarded the world’s first “Citizen Science” trophy by the Human Computation Institute (HCI) at Lake Hazel Middle School (Boise, ID) on Thursday, 21st December. 250 students formed the winning “Middle School STEM” team in HCI’s science game – Stall Catchers, which speeds up Alzheimer’s research. The custom-built award will be presented by HCI’s director, Dr. Pietro Michelucci, during an all-hands assembly.
This award highlights a shift in attitudes toward “science” in education and public engagement contexts, and puts STEM activities on par with sports and other extracurricular activities in schools. As demonstrated by the middle school students, who triumphed over other teams in the “#CrushALZ” contest earlier this year, citizen science can effectively engage students in scientific activities, which are not only competitive but advance real science.
We hope this award fosters a trend of better integration between science and community. By making this connection early, we are not just grooming scientists for the future, but preparing future citizens to engage with science regardless of their vocation.
Pietro Michelucci, Dr.
According to the students’ technologies teacher, Ms. Erin Davis, games such as Stall Catchers teach students important concepts in biomedical science, show how research is done, and empower them to exercise civic responsibility through digital citizenship.
“I am always looking for ways to motivate my students to explore areas of STEM.” – says Ms. Davis, who created the team. “STEM careers are growing, and in dire need of talented individuals. My students are highly competitive, so this seemed like a great opportunity to get involved, and further the technology conversations with a real-life example.”
According to Ms. Davis, the students were “obsessed” with the Stall Catchers competition, and that prompted them to establish their own “Citizen Science Club” at the school, which takes science out of the “science fair” setting and makes it a participatory activity.
Dr. Michelucci and his team hope this Citizen Science trophy will seed a culture of rewarding volunteer science at schools everywhere.
“We hope this award fosters a trend of better integration between science and community. By making this connection early, we are not just grooming scientists for the future, but preparing future citizens to engage with science regardless of their vocation,” says Dr. Michelucci.
Together with other competitors, Lake Hazel students helped achieve up to eight months of lab work in four short weeks of competitive gameplay, advancing Alzheimer’s disease research at Cornell University.
Ithaca, NY, April 6, 2017 (Newswire.com)
– EyesOnALZ (http://eyesonalz.com) – a project to crowdsource Alzheimer’s research is launching an online competition to #CrushALZ on April 6th, in partnership with The Crowd & The Cloud – a public television documentary series about citizen science.
The documentary, created by a producer of Carl Sagan’s original COSMOS series, shines first light on a growing movement of citizens participating en masse in the advancement of scientific research. The creators of this 4-part mini-series are dedicated to “turning viewers into doers” by encouraging hands-on participation in science.
Normally it would take a year for Cornell to analyze these data, but with the momentum of the documentary, we hope to enlist the help of millions of viewers to answer a key research question that will help us leap forward toward a treatment.
Pietro Michelucci, Director, Human Computation Institute
Stall Catchers (http://stallcatchers.com), developed as part of the EyesOnALZ project, is the first citizen science game to tackle Alzheimer’s disease. EyesOnALZ and Stall Catchers are featured in Episode 1 of the The Crowd and The Cloud, which will premier on National Public Television across the US on April 6th, and is available to watch online at http://crowdandcloud.org.
EyesOnALZ founder Pietro Michelucci will kick-off the “#CrushALZ Team Competition” on Stall Catchers during the social media event immediately following the series premiere. This live after-show event will take place at 10PM ET April 6, on The Crowd and The Cloud Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/crowdandcloudTV/).
Dr. Michelucci will join the live video stream with other subjects of the series, including EyesOnALZ biomedical collaborator Chris Schaffer from Cornell University. The month-long team competition aims to accelerate Cornell’s groundbreaking Alzheimer’s research program, which, according to Dr. Schaffer, “would be impractical without Stall Catchers”.
Any interested organization will be able to create a team on Stall Catchers and compete with other organizations who want to help eliminate Alzheimer’s. The team registration will open up at 6AM ET, April 6 at StallCatchers.com. Instructions on how to set up teams and invite members will be posted on the EyesOnALZ blog (http://blog.eyesonalz.com) that morning.
The most active teams in the competition will receive daily exposure via EyesOnALZ media channels and those of partner organizations. A number of PBS stations, also set to participate in the competition, will invite their local viewers to join forces and #CrushALZ.
According to Dr. Michelucci, a new Alzheimer’s dataset has been loaded into Stall Catchers just for the competition: “Normally it would take a year for Cornell to analyze these data, but with the momentum of the documentary, we hope to enlist the help of millions of viewers to answer a key research question that will help us leap forward toward a treatment.”
Players’ collective progress toward answering the research question will be reported throughout the competition. Dr. Michelucci plans to reveal the potential impact of this research question during the after-show event. “If all goes well, in one month we will have our answer and move on to the next question.”
