Science Scribbler

Charisma Palmer

For my Citizen Science Project, I decided I would participate in the Science Scribbler: Virus Factory project on zooniverse.com. This project had two parts to it, in which I had to pick the virus (Virus Picker) and identify the virus (Virus Classifier). The purpose of this project is to help them improve their automated data analysis techniques, which would make their research so much faster. It would also help improve our understanding of how viruses can take over the host cell’s and replicate. I chose this project, because I want to become a part of the medical field and value the ability of others to be able to do this kind of research. I saw that I did not know as much about this project as others might, but I hope that my data helps them reach their goals needed to further their research.

Advertisements

Bash the Bug

Judith Beltran

Bash the Bug

In developing antibiotics, scientists also have to consider how bacteria evolves to make antibiotics ineffective after time. Because bacteria has the ability to develop defense mechanisms against antibiotics, its important to stay aware of what is and what is not effective in combating bacterial infections like Tuberculosis. The Bash the Bug project on Zooniverse uses samples from patients to test what dosages and types of antibiotics cannot prevent bacterial growth. I viewed many different samples, deciding whether they had bacterial growth on them or not, or to what extent the bacteria spread on the samples. The results that I and other participants of the projects submitted will be reviewed by scientists to speed up the process of checking for bacterial resistance to antibiotics. This project is extremely important as it will help treat Tuberculosis, which is one of the top ten causes of death worldwide

Burrowing Owl Workday

Tamira Howard

Audubon Clean-up: Burrowing Owl Workday (Community Outreach Project)

This was a first time experience of having to make burrows for owls, and I found it fun but difficult. It was a windy hot day in Maricopa, but the cool part was putting together the tubes where the owls would crawl into and be underground. After we were all done putting together and tying down the tubes, we had to cover up the entire things with sand, which was much harder because somehow all the same disappeared. There was a giant hole, and the sand from that hole blew away which left us with enough sand to barely cover up the hole. It was a great and fun experience and I would definitely do it again someday.

Rainforest flowers

Judith Beltran

Rainforest Flowers

Through the Rainforest Flowers project on Zooniverse, I was able to analyze and identify different plants of over 10,000 species. This project is aimed towards improving the quality of the Live Plant Photos section of the Field Museum website. The website is used to advance tropical forest research and conservation. By going through some of the 30,000 photos taken from tropical forests in Central and South America and identifying plants, flowers, animals, and other specific aspects of each photo, I contributed to how accessible and efficient the Live Plant Photos feature is. I was interested in this project because of how necessary it is to fight to preserve the forests and wildlife we have left. Approximately 200,000 acres of rainforests are burned each day, or 73 million acres a year. Statistics like these are alarming, but work to preserve the rainforest and access to the data gathered in projects like these can go a long way in creating a sanctuary for rainforests and wildlife in them.

Where are my body organs, the return

Jessica Hicks

Where Are My Body Organs?

For my citizen science project, I chose to do the Where Are My Body Organs? activity. The objective of this project is to gather information about the education level of different people about the body. I chose this project because it seemed interesting and because I am always willing to contribute my knowledge to science. I did my best to recall where different body parts were in order to give those gathering the information an accurate idea of what I know. I think that both medicine and education are important, so I am glad to have provided some insight into how much the people of my age group and education know about the body.

Penguins

Victoria Serna

My favorite project on Zooniverse to work on is the penguin watch. Basically, they supply you with pictures of penguins in their natural habitat and you have to go through and identify the different types. This helps scientists keep track of the species and get an estimate on how many there are in an area. Not only is this project really cute, but it also helps out in the care and studies of these birds. (also they’re just really cute to look at)

Burrowing Owl Homes

Mason Maltbie

For my community outreach project I participated in the Audubon Owl Burrow Project during the month of April, 2019. This outreach involved community service through hard labor to help create burrows for the burrowing owl population. I assisted in tasks such as, digging holes, setting up owl habitats, and covering up the burrows. I participated in this project with 2 other students and was glad to share a mutual time of giving and service with them. In the end our group completed our task quickly and went on to help complete a second burrow. I hope that out contribution will help maintain the wildlife populations in our area.