tion reveal the ongoing spread of radiation across the Pacific and its evolving impacts on the ocean.
Clarification for fundraising costs: shipping is about 20% of the cost, the majority being the cesium extraction steps in the lab, radioactivity detection and data processing, along with managing the web site and database.
There are 3 ways to support us:
1) Help us reach our goal by donating to sample an existing site. Simply click on "HELP FUND A LOCATION" and choose to support one of the many sites that are underway
2) Someone can propose a new sampling site. Click on "PROPOSE A LOCATION" and see what is involved. If accepted (we are trying to get spread of locations up/down coast), we as for a donation of $100 and we'll set up a fundraising webpage, add that page to our website, and send you a sampling kit once your goal of $550 to $600 has been reached.
3) We also seek funds for general capacity building and public education activities at CMER: http://ourradioactiveocean.org/support ($20 minimum donation)
GoViral participants who log in and report symptoms weekly using our website or mobile app will get a Do-It-Yourself flu test kit and a saliva collection system that they can keep and use at home if they are feeling sick. The home test detects 4 different kinds of flu and cold viruses, and all samples will be analyzed at a central laboratory that checks for 20 different viral infections. GoViral participants will get the results of their own tests and as well, through the aggregate data, be able to see in real-time what infections and symptoms are going around near them so they can take appropriate public health measures and understand when something might be abnormal.
Independent Generation of Research
IGoR facilitates scientific research by amateur scientists and science enthusiasts. Anyone (not just professional scientists) can propose their own research questions on the IGoR site. Then, other interested people can share ideas, skills, or time to address the question. In addition, a growing number of professional scientists have agreed to help answer users' questions about the users' research projects.
Some people may have science questions that they cannot answer on their own. Other people may have technical skills (e.g. electronics or microscopy, gardening or photography, and many others) that would be useful for addressing those questions. Still others may have the scientific training to design a sound study.
By working together and pooling skills and ideas, people of any experience level could carry out original, independent research. For example, do you want to decipher what scallops see with their bright-blue eyes? Do you wonder how mushrooms take shape? Or are you curious about how the plants in your garden behave? What do you want to discover?
Problem: Scientific citations are frequently constrained by terms-of-use or within proprietary systems making it difficult to see connections in the literature.
Solution: OSF SciNet uses the open source Citelet extension to crowdsource a free, open, and comprehensive metadata dataset of scientific citations and corresponding references to unlock the citation network.
Impact: The dataset generated through this project will make it easier to see the connections in the scientific literature and to promote open science.
Poo Power! Global Challenge
An invitation to 700 school-aged students from 25 different schools has been extended to the wider community to participate in a global competition. Students and classes will be pitched against each other to see who can identify the most and largest dog poo 'hotspots' in their local neighbourhood in the 'Poo Power! Global Challenge'.
Participating schools and students will use their GPS-enabled iPhone to download the free Poo Power! App from the App Store. Their task is to identify and map dog poo 'hotspots' in dog parks and public spaces from their neighbourhood over a 2 week period starting Monday 25 November 2013.
This eyebrow-raising initiative is a collaboration between dog poo entrepreneur Duncan Chew from Poo Power! and