citizen science

A tiny pilot study found that so-called chameleon vines mimicked plastic leaves, but experts say poor study design and conflicts of interest undermine the report.

Tourist photos help identify endangered manta rays and highlight the efficacy of recovery efforts at Komodo National Park.

A volunteer nature guide teamed up with researchers to discover a unique reproductive role for one vine’s leaves.

The BioCollective, a company that transforms whole stool samples into microbial metadata, is developing the US’s first national microbiome reference material.

The creativity of citizen scientists could help researchers design proteins that may be able to fight the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

An online video game helps researchers create strategies for creating RNA.

Marine biologists identify smalleye stingrays using the white spots on their backs.

The sturgeon restoration study’s outcome won’t be known for decades.

A recently expanded online database allows researchers and the public to share and view videos of sea lampreys.

Locals helped researchers find the extremely rare boa.

A nude birder and an Australian zoo owner are competing to set the new bar for the number of species spotted in a single year.

Oregonian Noah Strycker broke the world Big Year birding record when he saw his 4,342nd species of the calendar year in 2015.

Several recent studies point to serious—and mysterious—declines in butterfly numbers across the globe.

Citizen-scientist data obtained through the U.K.’s National Bat Monitoring Programme show that populations of 10 bat species have stabilized or are growing.

A legion of citizen-scientist gamers helps a team of researchers explain a long-standing riddle of how the retina processes motion.

An online competition gives citizen scientists a chance to design RNA molecules to generate a target structure.

A century’s worth of collected butterflies shed light on how climate change threatens the survival of early-emerging species.

Biological tinkerers are not the risk that some have made them out to be, according to a new report.

A forest ecologist comes down from the canopy to bring science to the masses, forming a series of improbable collaborations with prisoners.