This story originally appeared on Scistarter.com, a website that helps everyday people find out about and take part in real science projects and activities. Also, who would have ever predicted the never-ending utility of a picture of me reading Science magazine while wearing a Santa costume? Probably Santa.

By Darlene Cavalier

Make sure you’re on Santa’s “nice list” this year. Consider helping researchers help the planet this holiday season. Here are a dozen opportunities to get involved in real research during the 12 days of Christmas!

On the first day of Christmas, Missouri gave to me…an opportunity to help stem the threat of invasive pear trees in Missouri’s urban forest and in other parts of the U.S.

On the 2nd day of Christmas, the UK’s British Trust for Ornithology gave to me….the Nest Record Scheme, a citizen science project to monitor the the turtle dove, the UK’s most most threatened farmland bird, and many others.

On the 3rd day of Christmas, Iowa gave to me…the Greater Prairie Chicken Project ensure these future hens remain in Iowa.

On the 4th day of Christmas, the National Audubon Society gave to me…the world’s longest running citizen science project, the Christmas Bird Count.

On the 5th day of Christmas, Nevada gave to me…the chance to collect monthly water quality data at the Yuba River, which is affected by gold mining.

On the 6th of Christmas, Seattle Audubon Society gave to me… the chance to help seabird researchers create a snapshot of geese density on more than three square miles of nearshore saltwater habitat.

On the 7th day of Christmas, the Swan Society of the University of Melbourne gave to me…the My Swan project to report sightings of tagged black swans around the world.

On the 8th day of Christmas, Zooniverse gave to me…the Milky Way Project, a chance to help scientists study our galaxy, as well as the Milky Way advent calendar and even Milky Way tree ornaments!

On the 9th day of Christmas, the Science Cheerleaders gave to me…1300 young ladies cheering for citizen science as they set a new Guinness World Record for the World’s Largest Cheer!

On the 10th day of Christmas, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums gave to me…FrogWatch, an opportunity to help protect frogs-a-leaping.

On the 11th day of Christmas, Cornell’s Lab of Ornithology gave to me, Science Pipes, a free service that lets you connect to real biodiversity data, use simple tools to create visualizations and feeds, and embed results on your own web site or blog.

On the 12th day of Christmas, New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation gave to me…theRuffed Grouse Drumming Survey to help hunters survey the population of ruffed grouse during breeding season.

If you’re fortunate to experience a white Christmas, consider sending your snow depth measurements to cryosphere researchers at the University of Waterloo’s Snow Tweets project. They want to use your real-time measurements to help calibrate the accuracy of satellite instruments currently measuring snow precipitation.

Happy holidays from the SciStarter team!

Amy Mayer at Schools.com wrote a great story about citizen science, featuring a few insights from Dr. Lisa Gardiner and me (both part of the Science for Citizens team). Read it and report back. That’s not an order…or is it?

Here’s a quick excerpt:

Aspiring research scientists, environmentalists, mobile technology aficionados and video game buffs all can contribute to myriad citizen science projects, along the way joining a global community of regular people contributing to research science. It’s usually fun, often free and typically takes only the amount of time you want to give it.

Although the term “citizen science” is relatively new and increasingly common, the concept is longstanding. In the 19th century, for example, amateur naturalists aided experienced ornithologists by keeping track of the various species of birds they encountered. Today, modern technology and creativity have expanded tremendously the types of projects the public can participate in. All have in common the fact that volunteer public efforts really contribute to ongoing scientific research.

Getting involved is easy

John Ohab with the Science for Citizens website says his database has over 400 projects that have a way for people to sign up and contribute their own data. Some of the more readily accessible projects simply ask you to make an observation (such as when buds appear on trees, what birds are at your feeder, or the snow depth wherever you are) and send in your data points. In most cases you submit your data via a website or Twitterfeed. SnowTweets, for instance, lets participants dash off their measurements from their phones via Twitter. Cyrosphere researchers at the University of Waterloo in Canada collate the snowfall data and use it to check data from satellite observations.

Projects appeal to different people depending on their specific interests. Ohab says those that, like SnowTweet, harness the power of smartphone technology, often appeal to high school and college students.

Expanding the scientific community

One collaboration among a dozen science centers around the country is developing a smartphone app for the public to help gather data on the Urban Heat Island Effect. C3: Communicating Climate Change is a project that hopes to develop a robust database of the temperatures along the urban-rural gradient–in other words, amassing large datasets so that meaningful interpretations can be made. According to the Maryland Science Center’s website, the difference between the temperature of a metropolitan area and the rural areas that surround it, or the Urban Heat Island, “is not an effect of climate change, but rather of human activity shaping our environment. One may ask, if we can make changes on a local scale, are we also responsible for changes globally?” Citizen scientists will provide the raw data that researchers use to explore this and other questions.

Read the full story at Schools.com.

This post originally appeared on Science for Citizens, where I write about opportunities for the general public to participate in scientific research.

Adolescents diagnosed with chronic illness have a lifelong responsibility to maintain and promote their health. Chronic illness can impact life in a variety of ways: pain, fatigue, inability to take part in physical abilities, and feelings of hopelessness. To help overcome these challenges, adolescents commonly look to counseling, social groups, and similar online activities.

What would you do to help an adolescent with chronic illness regain control of their health?

The folks at InnoCentive.com are looking for exciting new ways to use gaming technology to help adolescent patients with chronic disease. Their new challenge, Games for Health: Inspiring Adolescents to take Control of their Health, will payout 10,000 bucks, with at least one award being no smaller than $5,000 and no award being smaller than $1,000.

The goal is to obtain a gaming product that helps adolescents with chronic illness create and maintain their own health. The winning solution will create a feeling of community, provide measures of success, and impacts real life behaviors. A teenager should actually want to play this game, rather than associate with homework!

The winning solution will support the larger Collaborative Chronic Care Network (C3N), a system based on collaboration between patients, clinicians, and researchers. C3N will enable these stakeholders to share information, experiences, and ideas to solve problems and improve health. It will operate both online (virtual worlds) and offline (the real world), so the winning solution needs to function effectively in both worlds.

Anyone is eligible to participate in this Challenge, from gamers to graphic designers to clinicians to the actual patients who would use it. Submit your solution by June 18!

Gaming technology has played an increasingly important role in enabling citizens to participate in scientific research projects.

EteRNA challenges you to build RNA molecules using a virtual molecule building kit; in the Finnish game, Digitalkoot, players fix mistakes in the index of old Finnish newspapers by saving animated moles; and in Phylo, you help researchers study DNA sequences by shifting and moving puzzle pieces.

Sign up for the Science for Citizens newsletter!

As part of a collaboration on the Changing Planet series, Science for Citizens is partnering with a climate research project at the University of Waterloo called SnowTweets. To help researchers track climate change, we’re asking people to grab a ruler, go outside, and measure the depth of snow wherever you happen to be. Then, report the data here. Pretty easy.

With the help of friends and family, I was able to produce the above video to show people just how easy it is to contribute. The video went decidely not viral, despite enjoying a presence on the Science for Citizens blog and Discover Magazine’s Intersection.

Thanks to everyone who helped out! Enjoy the below image of me holding a ruler while laying on a snow-covered bench outside of my office in my work clothes. It makes sense.

It looks like Science for Citizens is getting some attention over at the online video network, Motherboard.TV. Co-founders Michael Gold and Darlene Cavalier were interviewed by Motherboard’s Jordan Keenan this past spring at Harvard during the Humanity Plus Summit, where Darlene spoke about citizen science. Check out the slides from the presentation.

Fresh off a vacation to Seattle, I thought I would highlight some of the amazing citizen science projects taking place in Washington state. Check out my recent post on the Science for Citizens blog. Look, there is also a picture of a happy fun western gray squirrel, which I’ve obscured below to entice you.

Here is a brag badge that I generated over at Science for Citizens.

I wrote this for ScienceforCitizens.net. It was most enjoyable part of my day.

The Who's Whoo-ing project studies the Great-horned Owl

Are you a Westchester (NY), Putnam (NY), or Fairfield County (CT) resident just itching for a reason to dust off that old boombox?

If so, the The Who’s Whoo-ing citizen science project needs you to play a CD of owl calls for 10 minutes and record if a response is heard. Using simple “call playback surveys”, the Mianus River Gorge Preserve hopes to better understand where eastern screech owls, barred owls, and great horned owls live and co-occur in these suburban counties.

Residents conduct six surveys between March and November for each species of owl — that’s just three hours to help these important predators flourish in their suburban ecosystem.

Check out the Who’s Whoo-ing project page and share any pictures, video, or thoughts you have on your very own Science for Citizens member blog. Owl look forward to learning more about your experiences! (worst pun ever)

This is my first post for the recently launched ScienceforCitizens.net blog! I think you’ll find it both brilliant and of surpassing excellence.

Here’s your chance to be part of science history! In the video below, Andy Farke and Matt Wedel introduce the Open Dinosaur Project, a collaborative research effort to develop a database of dinosaur bone measurements.

The best part? You don’t need formal scientific training, a background in research, or even to have seen the Jurassic Park movies. You just need an interest in paleontology and access to skeletal information, publications, or fossils. Anyone who contributes data — whether high school students, teachers, or grandparents — is eligible to be a junior author on the resulting scientific publication.

Could you be the next Indiana “Bones”? (<– terrible) The only way to find out is to visit the Open Dinosaur Project page and get started! You should also check out their fantastic blog!

Special thanks to Andy Farke and Matt Wedel for making this video!