Mobile Phones For Science

Researchers gather environmental data all the time, to study air and water quality and other information. It can be a costly process. But what if you could convince people to carry sensors around with them? Scientists are now eyeing mobile phones for that very purpose.

There are about six cell phones for every ten people on the planet. A researcher named Eric Paulos wants to see them equipped with tiny environmental sensors that could detect pollution or track pollen density. He’s an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute. In 2007, he gave air-quality sensors to students in Accra, Ghana. Within two weeks the students began changing their daily routes to avoid exposure to air pollutants.

There are a host of other applications, from tracking harmful algal blooms, to monitoring invasive species in California’s Santa Monica mountains, to measuring earthquake aftershocks. Paulos joins us on Word of Mouth to explain how we can all become citizen scientists.

Seed Magazine: The Tricorder Arrives

Living on Earth: Where Have All the Fireflies Gone?

Word of Mouth: Become a Citizen Scientist!

(Photo courtesy of Eric Paulos)