Citizen Scientists Contribute to Challenges
An interesting video posted by Science Roll points out that one of what has been defined as humanity’s “Grand Challenges” is to “keep developing tools of scientific discovery”. One of the solutions may lie in crowdsourcing. Good global citizens and Science enthusiasts alike, your time is needed for furthering discovery. Here are some projects from around the globe looking for assistance from citizen scientists.
Power to the Physicists
Switzerland based CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) is asking for help testing a new version of a volunteer computing project that allows any computer user to help physicists search for new particles. Volunteers are essentially contributing spare processing capacity on their home and laptop computers to run simulations of beam dynamics and particle collisions in the detector’s of CERNS Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The LHC is a particle accelerator designed to be the most powerful instrument ever built to investigate the properties of fundamental particles.
Lost in Outer Space
If you can’t stop staring at the stars, the U.S. space program wants you to help identify the right target for a spacecraft currently in orbit. Volunteers are needed to search from among thousands of ground based images, taken using giant telescopes. Hiding within these images are undiscovered objects that the spacecraft can map and investigate.
Research for the Rest of Us
The Universityof California, Berkeley, has set up a network to connect researchers needing help with those who can provide it. Scientists and Universities can use the site, BOINC, to create projects. Then volunteers register with the site, choose from a list of projects, and download the open source software. Nearly 300,000 registered users contribute computer time to a range of projects in fields ranging from botany to astrophysics to cryptography.
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