Chandra Clarke

Award-winning entrepreneur. Author. Professional Optimist.

DreamLab for iOS and Android

By Leave a Comment

Guest post by James Bradley

DreamLab is a volunteer computing app developed by the Vodafone Foundation, in partnership with the Garvan Institute of Medical Research. It uses the idle processing power of smart phones and tablets to speed up cancer research. With the app you can help accelerate cancer genetics and drug research while you sleep. Unlike many other volunteer computing efforts, DreamLab supports Apple iOS devices as well as Android.

Contributing to DreamLab takes only a few simple steps:

  1. Charge your device and connect it to the Internet.
  2. Choose a project or projects to support.
  3. Set the amount of data you want the app to use on Wi-Fi or mobile networks.
  4. Begin powering your projects.

If your mobile network provider is Vodafone UK or Vodafone Australia, the data used by DreamLab is free of charge and does not add to your data limit.

At the present time, there are four projects that can be selected to work on:

  • Demystify by the Garvan Institute
  • DRUGS Phase 3 and Phase 4 by the Imperial College London
  • 3D Genome by AIRC (Italian Association for Cancer Research)

Your contribution to each project and total contribution are tracked through your number of calculations crunched. Your time spent powering DreamLab is tracked as well.

DreamLab can be downloaded for iOS on the App Store and for Android on Google Play:

https://apps.apple.com/app/dreamlab-help-to-fight-cancer/id1273619275

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=au.com.vodafone.dreamlabapp

Science with a touch of honey

By Leave a Comment

Image credit: EPA Hive Science Mobile App Screen Shot

HiveScience is a citizen science venture for beekeepers. Utilizing the HiveScience mobile phone-based application, beekeepers can submit hive well-being reports, Varroa bug checks, and demand units to send honey tests to EPA. This information enables them to track hive well being through nectar tests and track Varroa vermin infections continuously. It will likewise give data about effectiveness of the miticides to the EPA.

The declining health of honey bees and other pollinators is an international concern, with bees in almost every region of the planet dying from a variety of causes. HiveScience propels understanding of how Varroa parasites and different pathogens influence honey apiaries.

The application is available on both iOS and Android mobile platforms and can be downloaded for free. The application is designed for citizen science and usage is fairly simple and to the point. You are required to register an account before you can send in your sighting and that is only to make your records verifiable and reliable. Signing up for the first time is very easy and requires just a few basic details before you are all ready to go. The features of the app are completely free, making it perfect for all citizen scientist bee keepers out there.

Biodiversity Magnified

By Leave a Comment

Image Credit: WayBio

Project: http://wyobio.org/

The WyoBio Mobile app is a product of the Wyoming Biodiversity Citizen Science Initiative (WyoBio). The mobile app enables any citizen to report species observations and photos of biodiversity in Wyoming.

Use the app to record plants, animals, insects, and fungi on your next outing. You can also use the app to identify what you’re seeing, to give you an understanding of your local environment. By contributing data, you’re helping scientists track species movement and habitat changes, giving researchers real time ground truth on the Wyoming environment.

The app is available on both Android and iOS.

We need your help finding the Asian tiger mosquito

By Leave a Comment

Starting in late July 2019 we are asking residents of the Northeast region of the United States to build and place a trap that will catch the invasive Asian tiger mosquito (ATM) and report back to us if you find one. This is one big survey that you can take part in between the last week of July through the end of August. You can absolutely place multiple traps in multiple locations and get your friends and family involved.

Why are we doing this?

The Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) is originally from Asia. It was introduced to the United States decades ago and every year the tiger mosquitoes move farther north. The ATM is aggressive and bites people throughout the day. Residents where the ATM is established complain that outdoor activities are nearly impossible during the month of August. Besides being a huge nuisance, they are capable of spreading a number of disease causing agents (such as viruses and dog heartworm) that can make humans and pets sick. Having more information regarding the tiger mosquito’s location will help us focus research efforts to prevent the spread of diseases. 

Our goal is to figure out how far north the tiger mosquito has moved and we need your help! Can you assist us in finding the tiger mosquito in your region? We are seeking concerned citizen scientists like you to help. Your participation should be fun and educational!  It would involve making a mosquito egg trap out of household supplies and recyclables, allowing eggs to hatch and become adults and then reporting back to us if you hatched a tiger mosquito. The only piece of technology you need is a smart phone for location data and pictures! Along the way you’ll learn about the risks these mosquitoes pose to human health and how you can prevent them from infesting your community.

If you would like to participate please sign up with your email and zip code. We will be sending a few email reminders and resources during the ATM season of 2019.

https://mailchi.mp/b7f94221c7fd/emailsignup

This project is part of a larger endeavor on the development of climate-informed decision-support tools for the prevention of Aedes-borne disease in the US through Columbia University’s Earth Institute, funded by the International Research and Applications Program (IRAP) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Award NA18AOR4310339).