Even Nintendo can't compete with the excitement and motivation this generates. I am a scientist. Other types of these student-scientist partnerships have become indispensable components of major data collection efforts. It is now mid-December, the leaves are off the trees, and the winter solstice is just a week away. It turns out that one of the great mysteries of science involves the migration patterns of the familiar, orange and black Monarch butterflies that grace our gardens in spring and summer.
Monarchs move across the continent from Canada to Mexico each year in the late summer and fall.
We are not sure if they move in specific directions or along certain pathways. We also don't know if weather is a factor, or if the migration patterns change over time. An NSF-funded project based at the University of Kansas is helping to coordinate a national effort to develop this database. One key to the project is mapping the Monarch's migrations. It's not a simple task, as it is all too easy to damage the butterflies' delicate wings.