Behind most great discoveries in natural science is a deep foundation of field work.
Continue readingCategory Archives: Amateur Science
Apps are great helps for citizen science, but “old school” field notes remain a powerful tool for becoming a competent naturalist.
Continue reading
Seventy-five years ago this month an amateur weather-watcher from West Sussex published a landmark paper in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society directly linking the burning of fossil fuels to the warming of the Earth’s atmosphere.
Continue reading
When I was eleven, my parents gave my brothers and me a puzzle game that totally captivated us. It was called “Soma”.
Continue reading
Intertidal ecosystems are one of the more dramatic examples of what biologists call the “edge effect.” This describes what happens when two different kinds of ecosystems come into contact with each other.
Continue reading
Beneath the public climate debate, another debate is going on, unnoticed, and one that citizen scientists may be uniquely qualified to address.
Continue reading
By Sheldon Greaves One of the legendary minds of the 20th century whose work will continue to enlighten the current century is R. Buckminster Fuller. “Bucky” as he preferred to be called was not only remarkable for the prodigious output … Continue reading
By Sheldon Greaves, Ph.D. 16 April 2018 PDF Version As the citizen science movement grows, questions persist about what, exactly, citizen science can and should do. Where should practitioners focus their efforts? Where does citizen science stand in relation to … Continue reading
By Sheldon Greaves, Ph.D. Ocean Sanctuaries 11 December 2017 (Download PDF) A recent essay[1] by Philip Mirowski has caught the attention of the Citizen Science community, by raising some trenchant questions despite several questionable assertions and assumptions about the Citizen … Continue reading
By Sheldon Greaves I’ve always wanted to witness a real, live total solar eclipse, but never had the opportunity until one came waltzing through our back yard. In short, it was totally as cool as the hype suggested, perhaps moreso. … Continue reading