Tag Archives: Aristotle

2000 year old citizen science and 2024 participatory science (aka, citizen science) news

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One story features Aristotle and the other features some of the latest (as of October 2024) in citizen science (participatory science) news.

Ancient citizen science

The story about Aristotle’s scientific endeavours and 2,000 year old citizen science is told in an August 15, 2024 essay by Konstantine Panegyres (McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellow, researching Greco-Roman antiquity, The University of Melbourne) for The Conversation, Note: Links have been removed,

If we want to research a subject, how do we do it? We could read about it in books or do experiments in a lab. Or another way is to find people who know something about it and ask them.

Collecting information from members of the public has long been a method of scientific research. We call it citizen science. According to National Geographic, this is “the practice of public participation and collaboration in scientific research to increase scientific knowledge”.

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Most of us know of Aristotle (384–322 BCE [Before the Common Era]) for his philosophical works, but he was also a great scientist.

Aristotle consulted the general public when undertaking his scientific research projects. He wrote a number of books about animals, the greatest of which was his History of Animals. He also wrote smaller works including Parts of Animals and Generation of Animals. Collectively, these are usually referred to as Aristotle’s biological writings.

The Roman scholar Pliny the Elder (approximately 24–79 CE) has told us about some of Aristotle’s research methods when writing these texts.

According to Pliny, Alexander the Great (356–323 BCE) – who was Aristotle’s student – supported Aristotle’s research on animals by ordering the public to collaborate:

orders were given to some thousands of persons throughout the whole of Asia and Greece, all those who made their living by hunting, fowling, and fishing and those who were in charge of warrens, herds, apiaries, fishponds and aviaries, to obey [Aristotle’s] instructions, so that he might not fail to be informed about any creature born anywhere.

Modern scholars aren’t certain Alexander actually gave this order. Nonetheless, Aristotle’s writings about animals often refer to information he received from others who worked directly with animals, such as hunters, beekeepers, fishermen and herdsmen.

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As Panegyres notes in the August 15, 2024 essay, Aristotle applied some of his own thinking and research to citizen observations,

Aristotle was at times also critical of the eyewitness information he received. For instance, in Generation of Animals, he says some people told him fish don’t copulate, because they had not seen fish copulating. But he goes on to say these people are wrong – and that he himself knows fish do indeed copulate:

The fish copulate in the same way as dolphins do, by placing themselves alongside of each other […] The fishermen do not notice this […] and so they join the chorus and repeat the same old stupid tale that fish conceive by swallowing the semen.

Aristotle was right. While most fish don’t have sexual intercourse, some do. Clearly, Aristotle had either asked enough people and/or investigated the issue himself to find the truth.

Sometimes citizen scientists came in with fantastical tales according to Panegyres’s August 15, 2024 essay (h/t phys.org’s August 17, 2024 news item)..

If you are interested in the ancient world Panegyres has a number of articles on The Conversation. Here are a few of the titles,

Why is cancer called cancer? We need to go back to Greco-Roman times for the answer

Did people in Ancient Rome and Greece love the same way we do? Perhaps even more hopelessly

Nude athletes and fights to the death: what really happened at the ancient Olympics

Enjoy!

Citizen Science Association (CSA) is now the Association for Advancing Participatory Sciences (AAPS) + some news

Is the resemblance of the CSA’s new name to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) purely coincidental? That question is not asked nor answered in the group’s April 2, 2024 blog posting by J_Shirk, which announced the name change, Note: A link has been removed,

For more than ten years, this Association has engaged practitioners from many related traditions, including crowdsourced science, volunteer monitoring, amateur astronomy, community-based research, citizen science, and more. Our new name reflects that broad scope, and helps reveal and engage the rich landscape of practices across the many participatory sciences.

What are the Participatory Sciences?

Participatory sciences combine the strengths of scientific inquiry with the knowledge, insights, and observations of members of the public. Some efforts are scientist-driven, with researchers inviting volunteers to submit data, categorize images, or otherwise assist in answering research questions. Others are community-driven, where communities (of place or interest) leverage science processes to compile evidence and address problems. All efforts are borne from seeing common interests, and developing working relationships, between scientists and public groups to answer questions, accelerate discovery, monitor change, or inform decisions.

Participatory science projects and traditions can be found in almost every field of research. Natural history projects come to mind for many, but research collaborations of these kinds advance work in biomedicine, astronomy, environmental health, history, geography, archaeology, and more. In almost all disciplines, these projects depend on breaking down historic barriers between scientific institutions and members of the public. They also depend on building up new relationships, platforms, strategies, and skills to bring together people, information, and knowledge–difficult work made easier when we can learn from others who have done this before.

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Here’s some of the latest news from the October 2024 AAPS newsletter (received via email),

This month we are highlighting ways the future of participatory sciences
is looking bright, including: early-career passion and enthusiasm for
this field, a prestigious award for pioneering platform, iNaturalist,
excitement for our upcoming convening in Portland, Oregon, and an
invitation to join us for inspiration and action-oriented discussions at
the AAPS Member Meeting later this month.

You’ll also find announcements about a new online course on project
design, details on an upcoming workshop on the convergence of
computational and citizen science research, and free workshop series on
science community and policy impact from adjacent organizations
supporting this work below.

Read on …

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AAPS Member Meeting, October 28th, 2024

1pm ET | 10am PT 

>>Register Here

Join AAPS leaders for an hour of inspiration and action-oriented discussions about how the Associations’ efforts to advance participatory sciences can engage, serve, and support you in your work at the AAPS Member Meeting on October 28th [2024]. 

This event is open to active members and those interested in learning more about the work of the Association. AAPS is the leading organization and go-to resource center for both leaders and learners in this field. Together, we work to inspire new collaborations, address shared challenges, and raise awareness of the value of these projects to pave the way for future successes. Our new strategic plan outlines concrete steps to get us there. AAPS members have always been at the forefront of innovations in the participatory sciences. Let’s work together to build the future of this field.

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[2025 Conference for Advancing Participatory Sciences]

Our 2025 conference will be hosted locally by Oregon State University in Portland, Oregon, a city known for its natural beauty and progressive spirit. Core sessions will be held at the Portland State University campus in downtown Portland with special events at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, World Forestry Center, and OSU Portland Center. Attendees can explore the projects and the unique ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest through field trips–look for pikas in Cascades with the Oregon Zoo, explore the coast with COASST, or embark on an urban adventure as part of your conference experience.

Many important details to help you budget and plan for your trip including a schedule overview, registration rates, and estimated attendee costs, are available on the conference event site.

Explore CAPS 2025

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The call for individual presentations, including posters, will open later this fall. [2024]

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NEW ONLINE COURSE, Citizen and Community Science: Designing Projects for Research & Engagement

The University of New Hampshire has launched a new 6-week, online course focused on designing citizen and community science projects from initial planning to project launch. This course offers hands-on learning, a step-by-step process, and guided coaching for your project design, offered through an asynchronous, 36-hour format for maximum flexibility. You’ll experience the material though videos, recorded presentations, selective readings, interactive discussion boards, hands-on assignments, and optional live Zooms and one-on-one coaching sessions.

Instructors include Malin Ely Clyde and Alyson Eberhardt, who have extensive experience as participatory science practitioners, researchers, and volunteer coordinators with UNH Cooperative Extension and NH Sea Grant. The course runs from Oct. 12 – Nov. 24, 2024. Cost: $999 with some discounts available. Successful completion of the course earns participants a digital badge and a certificate of completion.

>>Learn more and register here

Call for Participation: Grand Challenges for the Convergence of Computational and Citizen Science Research.

The workshop will cover several key focus areas including Human-Computer Teaming, Computational Citizen Science, Citizen Science Data Cyberinfrastructure, the development of affordable sensors for citizen science, and the ethical and social implications of integrating AI with citizen science. The outcomes from this workshop are expected to guide future research agendas and influence government and federal institutions.

The workshop will take place in Washington, DC, from April 8-9 2025 with opening dinner on April 7.

For more information on traveling and application requirements, visit the Open Calls for Participation page. Apply here for the in-person workshop and virtual discussions- deadline October 4, 2025. 

Find out more about this event in this interview with event organizers.

Science Communication & Policy Impact: A Four-Part Virtual Workshop Series

In collaboration with the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology; the College of Computing, Data Science, and Society; and the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) Day One Project, the CITRIS Policy Lab is hosting a four-part Science Communication and Tech Policy Workshop Series that will equip you with the essential skills to effectively communicate your research to the general public, policymakers, and funders. 

 >>FULL DETAILS

Workshop 1: Communicating Scientific Research to the Public

Fri., Oct. 4 | 10 am – 11 am PT | REGISTER FOR WORKSHOP 1

Workshop 2: Leveraging Your Research for Policy Impact – Writing a Day One Policy Memo

Fri., Oct. 11 | 10 am – 11:30 am PT | REGISTER FOR WORKSHOP 2

Workshop 3: Pitching the President – Providing Effective Guidance to Policymakers & Writing Workshop

Fri., Nov. 8 | 10 – 12:00 pm PT | REGISTER FOR WORKSHOP 3

Workshop 4: Engaging with Legislative and Regulatory Processes

Fri., Nov. 15 | 10 – 11 am PT | REGISTER FOR WORKSHOP 4

Should you be interested in the AAPS monthly newsletters and its announcements, you can sign up here.

Mimicking the sea urchin’s mouth and teeth for space exploration

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Researchers at the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) have designed a new device for use in space exploration that is based on the structure and mechanics of a sea urchin’s mouth and teeth. From a May 2, 2016 news item on ScienceDaily,

The sea urchin’s intricate mouth and teeth are the model for a claw-like device developed by a team of engineers and marine biologists at the University of California, San Diego to sample sediments on other planets, such as Mars. The researchers detail their work in a recent issue of the Journal of Visualized Experiments.

A May 2, 2016 UCSD press release (also on EurekAlert), which originated the news item, expands on the theme by hearkening back to Aristotle (a Greek philosopher),

The urchin’s mouthpiece was first described in detail by the Greek philosopher Aristotle, earning it the nickname “Aristotle’s lantern.” It is comprised of an intricate framework of muscles and five curved teeth with triangle-shaped tips that can scrape, cut, chew and bore holes into the toughest rocks—a colony of sea urchins can destroy an entire kelp forest by churning through rock and uprooting seaweed.  The teeth are arranged in a dome-like formation that opens outwards and closes inwards in a smooth motion, similar to a claw in an arcade prize-grabbing machine.

The news release goes on to describe the methodology,

Bio-inspiration for the study came from pink sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus fragilis), which live off the West Coast of North America, at depths ranging from 100 to 1000 meters in the Pacific Ocean. The urchins were collected for scientific research by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego.

Researchers extracted the urchins’ mouthpieces, scanned them with microCT, essentially a 3D microscopy technique, and analyzed the structures at the National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research at the School of Medicine at UC San Diego. This allowed engineers to build a highly accurate model of the mouthpiece’s geometry.

Researchers also used finite element analysis to investigate the structure of the teeth, a method that allowed them to determine the importance of the keel to the teeth’s performance.

Engineers then turned the microCT data into a user-friendly file that a team of undergraduate engineering students at UC San Diego used to start iterating prototypes of the claw-like device, under the supervision of Ph.D. students in McKittrick’s lab.

The first iteration was very close to the mouthpiece’s natural structure, but didn’t do a very good job at grasping sand.  In the second iteration, students flattened the pointed end of the teeth so the device would scoop up sand better. But the device wasn’t opening quite right. Finally, on the third iteration, they connected the teeth differently to the rest of the device, which allowed it to open much easier. The students were able to quickly modify each prototype by using 3D printers in the UC San Diego Design Studio.

The device was then attached to a remote-controlled small rover. The researchers first tested the claw on beach sand, where it performed well. They then used the claw on sand that simulates Martian soil in density and humidity (or lack thereof). The device was able to scoop up sand efficiently. Researchers envision a fleet of mini rovers equipped with the claw that could be deployed to collect samples and bring them back to a main rover. Frank hopes that this design will be of interest to NASA [US National Aeronautics and Space Administraton] and SpaceX [a private enterprise for designing, manufacturing, and launching craft bound for space].

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

A Protocol for Bioinspired Design: A Ground Sampler Based on Sea Urchin Jaws by Michael B. Frank, Steven E. Naleway, Taylor S. Wirth, Jae-Young Jung, Charlene L. Cheung, Faviola B. Loera, Sandra Medina, Kirk N. Sato, Jennifer R. A. Taylor, Joanna McKittrick. Journal of Visualized Experiments, 2016; (110) DOI: 10.3791/53554 Date Published: 4/24/2016

This paper and its video are behind a paywall. For those unfamiliar with the Journal of Visualized Experiments (JOVE), it is focused largely on videos which demonstrate the various techniques and protocols being described in the accompanying papers.

The researchers have made an introductory video available courtesy of UCSD,

Legend of the giant squid, a lesson for environmentalists on how to tell a science story

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Mark Schrope has written a wonderful piece on the search for the giant squid in his Jan. 25, 2013 posting on Slate.com. It’s a story about adventure, myth, scientific pursuits, and, very cunningly, environmental issues.

I will excerpt a few bits from the piece but I encourage you to read it in its entirety,

Deep-sea biologist Edith Widder was working on a ship positioned off Japan’s Ogasawara Islands when Wen-Sung Chung asked her to step into the lab to see something. Cameras followed her as she got up. This was not unusual, since the Japan Broadcasting Commission (NHK) and the Discovery Channel were funding the expedition, which was being conducted from a research yacht named Alucia leased from a billionaire hedge fund owner. Chung was nonchalant, so it didn’t occur to Widder that she was about to see the culmination of a quest that has driven ocean explorers for more than a century. She thought maybe it was going to be video of a cool shark.

The purpose of the expedition was to capture footage of the enigmatic giant squid in its natural habitat. The animal can grow to 35 feet or longer, and its eye is as big as your head. But it lives about 1,000 feet below the surface and deeper, and it had only been glimpsed a few times at the surface and photographed alive once.

Widder is a world expert on bioluminescence, the light that countless marine animals use to communicate, especially in the dark world of the deep sea.

Schopes introduces a mystery, ‘What is Widder about to see?’, and then doesn’t answer it for several paragraphs while he explains who she is, her area of research, and the legend of the giant squid. Note: A link has been removed.

The giant squid has been the stuff of legend for about as long as people have sailed across oceans. Aristotle and Pliny the Elder described what may have been giant squid, which occasionally wash ashore or end up in fishermen’s nets, and the species is thought to be the origin of the Norwegian kraken myth.

Countless groups in past decades have tried to manufacture giant squid encounters, investing millions, getting all the best advice from the experts, only to come back as failed crusaders. One of the other scientists aboard the Alucia, Tsunemi Kubodera of Japan’s National Museum of Nature and Science, has been hunting giant squid in these waters for years. He managed to capture some still images of one giant squid and video of another after it was caught and brought to the surface. But none of that could compare to video of the animal alive in the deep, a view that would finally allow scientists to begin to understand the mysterious animal.

The expedition has not released expense figures, but it must have cost millions. When Chung, a graduate student at the University of Queensland, brought Widder into the lab and started fast-forwarding through the video, the scientists were already a week into a six-week expedition with nothing significant to show. Producer-types were growing tense.

Apparently, giant squid have a good sense of drama,

Now Widder is the first person to capture footage of a giant squid in its natural habitat. But even she admits that the grainy black-and-white footage, by itself, would have been a little unsatisfying. Some high-def footage would be the ultimate satisfaction. The drama-savvy squid would come through again.

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Seven days after the first Medusa footage of a giant squid, Kubodera was in the clear sphere of a Triton submersible with pilot Jim Harris and NHK cameraman Tatsuhiko “Magic Man” Sugita when it happened. Kubodera was exploiting a different hypothesis: that the elusive squid find their prey by looking up with those huge eyes to see the faint silhouette of prey.

On Kubodera’s dives, the team tied a smaller, diamondback squid to the front of the sub and wrapped the bait around foam so that it would sink slower. Up and down, up and down the sub had gone for hours, using another low-light camera.

A giant squid latched on at 2,000 feet. As it drifted down, Harris matched the descent to keep the squid in full camera view. After the first few minutes they had flipped on the big lights, thinking the squid would flee, but it was committed to the bait. The sub’s maximum safe depth is 3,300 feet. Had the squid held on that far, Harris would have had to hit the brakes and the squid would have dropped out of view. But instead, at the last minute—3,000 feet—the squid swam off, so they got the entire encounter on film.

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“I’ll never forget how beautiful it was,” says Harris. “It looked like it was covered in gold leaf.” That was a surprise to everyone because the dead ones certainly hadn’t looked like that. They were pasty. Kubodera says it was like seeing an entirely different animal.

Once Schrope has established the adventure aspect and revealed a giant squid covered in gold while, incidentally, establishing Widder’s credentials as a scientist and lover of marine life, there’s this,

For Widder, deep exploration remains a delight, but it’s no longer the primary focus of her career. In 2005, she left her longtime research post at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution to found the Ocean Research and Conservation Association [ORCA], headquartered in a scenic old Coast Guard station on the Fort Pierce inlet. She wanted to take a step away from academia, where scientists are expected to stay relatively quiet in public and avoid anything that smacks of activism.

Widder had been growing increasingly overwhelmed by the environmental decline she was seeing, particularly pollution in coastal waters and estuaries, which are plagued by the polluted runoff of a Florida lifestyle dependent on constant growth and lots of fertilizer.

It gets better,

… She wants to wipe away the fallacy that pollution is an amorphous, intractable problem by gathering the information needed to pinpoint key problems. [emphasis mine] The group wants to create the aquatic equivalent of weather maps. Red shows polluted waters, blue the areas in the best shape. If people know the spot their kids swim in is in the red, they’ll take much more notice, she reasons. Perhaps more importantly, tourists would gravitate to cleaner waters if they could, creating a strong motivation for improvements.

Already the project has had success. [emphasis mine] Mapping the pollution in a stretch of Indian River Lagoon—Widder’s home and her office are both on the lagoon—she was surprised to find that two canals came up blue in a field of red. After some checking, the team learned that the golf course on those canals had switched to better environmental practices. They were preventing mowed grass clippings and runoff from the course from making it into the water. It was the perfect example for the local government, and in short order, a new fertilizer ordinance was passed.

The pièce de résistance,

They seem a world apart, but to Widder, the deep-sea exploration for fantastic creatures and the coastal environmental work guided by microbes are intimately tied. Not just because it’s all one big sea. Attention from the higher profile deep-sea work gives her a bully pulpit for focusing attention on things people don’t want to hear about, like water pollution. “I don’t want to hear about that stuff either,” she says. “But we’ve got to deal with it.” …

Too often in environmental stories writers and activists, in an attempt to communicate the seriousness of the issues,  project a sense of doom. Necessary in the early days, the time has come to change the tone otherwise there’s a risk of inculcating hopelessness (some might say it’s already happening), which is the last thing we need. As Widder says, ” … we’ve got to deal with it.”

Very nicely done Mr. Schrope and Dr. Widder!

You can find more about ORCA here, by the way, the story has videos of the giant squid, and Discovery Channel (which broadcast the documentary on Jan. 27, 2013) also has information about the giant squid. Canadians are not allowed to view the video on the US website, we are required to visit the .ca website.

ETA Mar. 20, 2013: Danish scientists have determined that all giant squid no matter where they are found are related as per a Mar. 19, 2013 news item on ScienceDaily,

The giant squid is one of the most enigmatic animals on the planet. It is extremely rarely seen, except as the remains of animals that have been washed ashore, and placed in the formalin or ethanol collections of museums. But now, researchers at the University of Copenhagen leading an international team, have discovered that no matter where in the world they are found, the fabled animals are so closely related at the genetic level that they represent a single, global population, and thus despite previous statements to the contrary, a single species worldwide.