Our solar system might have a ninth planet. How about discovering it yourself?
This is what NASA is proposing by opening up online access to a huge quantity of celestial images for internauts to analyse and perhaps find this mysterious planet in the process.
It’s called “citizen science” and is an excellent solution to the challenges of modern science.
As scientific tools are becoming increasingly sophisticated, the amount of data is growing at a faster rate than our ability to process it.
So why stay in a closed circuit? Citizen science uses the brains of thousands of internauts and transforms them into powerful calculation capacity.
And if astronomy’s not your strong point, then you can take your pick from other citizen science projects– there’s something for everyone.
Epidemium, for example, which is a community-based cancer research project, or Vigie Nature, which calls on birdwatchers and other nature lovers to observe changes in biodiversity.
And you can help advance research even if you’re not a specialist.
How about the Foldit puzzle – an online game that puts not only the calculation power of people’s PCs to the service of science but also the creativity and collective intelligence of their users.
In fact, a recent solution to a Foldit puzzle has resolved a problem that had stumped scientists for a decade.
So it’s out with Candy Crush and Tinder – now it’s time to use your smartphone for science!
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