Space lovers! Science geeks! Artemis followers! Project Hail Mary devotees! Are you falling in love with the cosmos? Would you like to participate in REAL scientific research?
If you haven't heard of Zooniverse, now's the time to learn!
Zooniverse is a citizen scientist website where you can search for projects within your Special Interests. If you find something that appeals, you can volunteer to assist with whatever task the researchers need help with - usually classifications or data sifting. If you like classifying and sorting, this is what you've been waiting for.
You don't have to go anywhere. All you need is a phone/tablet/computer.
You do NOT need any scientific experience to contribute. Each project has full tutorials.
The entry bar is low for (many) projects. They're accessible to kids, teens, folks with limited time, many people with disabling conditions or chronic illness, etc. You can do it in the line at the grocery store, sitting on the couch, or during a pointless zoom meeting (if you get the facial expressions right)
You can commit as little or as much time as you like. There are no "goals", awards or incentives for completing projects (other than a feeling of fulfillment in your soul)
YOUR work WILL be used on scientific papers that you can read upon project completion!!
Not interested in space, or looking to branch out? Good news! Zooniverse has plenty of other categories:
For my clincher, here's an example of a galaxy I classified through the Galaxy Zoo project:
One of the coolest things is you may be within the first 10 people to ever look at this galaxy. EVER. Like that's a whole-ass galaxy and you're like... the 6th person in the world who's closely examined it. It's a "wow" feeling that never goes away.
Please consider volunteering! It's 100% free and sign up is very easy. The more people who contribute, the faster the scientists can collate data. I can't recommend it enough.
