Review: Join a science research team without leaving home.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 17, 2013
Chandra Clarke tells us that crowds of amateur enthusiasts have been helping science professionals with their work since 1900, when the Audubon Society first invited its members to participate in the annual Christmas bird count. But now that we're all empowered by personal computing and interconnected through the Internet, citizen science has taken off.The book is an invitation to put on a virtual white coat and invite yourself into any one of hundreds of research programs. "If you're looking for downtime and relaxation but don't want to succumb to Candy Crush Saga again," she says, "citizen science is for you."Her intriguing catalog of programs seeking help is organized by workload. Do you have more money than time? Then you're invited to help crowdfund research through sites like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and SciFund. Do you have some computer cycles to spare? Enroll your laptop as a supercomputer node to help crunch data for studies of cancer genes, climate change, aerospace simulation, earthquake prediction, or extraterrestrial intelligence. Want to go hands-on? Here are some assignments you might enjoy—- Examine microscopic images of cancer tumors and describe what you see.- Alert scientists to marine animals you spot in their films of the ocean bottom.- Report cases of flu in your area.- Monitor whale songs.- Report on incidents that made a baby laugh.- Play games to expand a cognitive database.- Report activity at your bird feeder.Clarke says the programs are designed to be user-friendly. They're "set up to be easy to do, include training when necessary, and have data checking and redundancies built in so you don't have to worry about doing something wrong."Clarke is a charmer who talks to you like your best friend—if your best friend were a science nerd who writes like a New York Times columnist. The book is both high-minded and lighthearted. It was a pleasure to read. And I might just sign up to spy on some of those marine mammals.Mark Myers(The Kindle Book Review received a free copy of this book for an independent, fair, and honest review. We are not associated with the author or Amazon.)