Sound

SingAboutScience.org has a searchable database which teachers and others can use to find content-rich songs on specific scientific and mathematical topics. Finding and cataloguing all relevant songs is a challenge, however, and volunteers can be used to help with this. Other possible work might entail technical development of the website and assessment of its usability.

Science Hack Day is a 48-hour-all-night event that brings together designers, developers, scientists and other geeks in the same physical space for a brief but intense period of collaboration, hacking, and building 'cool stuff'. By collaborating on focused tasks during this short period, small groups of hackers are capable of producing remarkable results. Some Hack Days have a specific focus. There have already been very successful Music Hack Days and Government Hack Days. It's time for a Hack Day focused on science!

The Musical Moods experiment for National Science & Engineering Week UK is a sound experiment which aims to find out what you think the mood is of BBC TV theme tunes, past and present. It aims to find out whether there are new ways of classifying online TV content through the mood of the music rather than the programme genre.

NoiseTube needs citizen scientists to monitor noise pollution. Participants install a free mobile application on their cell phone and measure the level of noise in their area.

Noise pollution is a serious problem in many cities. (Noise can change the balance in predator /prey detection and navigation among migratory species, among other detrimental effects.) This is your chance to turn your mobile phone into an environmental sensor and make an important contribution to science.

Your data will be shared with the NoiseTube community through a collective map of noise pollution. Local governments, city planners, researchers, and others will be able to access and analyze the data.

Project Calliope is an upcoming orbiting satellite that will convert Earth's ionosphere to music for people to share. Calliope lets people get a sense of how active space is. Calliope will measure the ionosphere for its 12-week life and transmit that data as sonified MIDI data (akin to sheet music) so anyone with a ham radio or web connection can listen to it-- or remix it into their own music compositions. It is planned to launch into orbit in late 2011.

We are looking for volunteers for our upcoming Yuri's Education Day event at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View this April 8, 2011 as we honor the 50th anniversary of the first astronaut who entered into space, Yuri Gagarin. This upcoming year, we are expecting more than 6,000 attendees from the greater San Francisco Bay Area to join together in a one-of-a-kind experience, and we are excited to create an innovative and interactive learning environment with your help!

On April 8th, from 9am-3pm, bay area educators and students are invited to participate in a free educational extravaganza of science, art, math, technology, engineering, sustainability, and space-related fun. Join us in hosting thousands of elementary, middle, high school, and college students from around the San Francisco Bay Area in an eclectic learning experience featuring presentations, workshops, interactive exhibits, and hands-on activities by prominent scientists, visionaries, space-enthusiasts, and entrepreneurs from multiple disciplines.

FrogWatch USA is the AZA (Association of Zoos and Aquariums)’s flagship citizen science program that allows individuals and families to learn about the wetlands in their communities and help conserve amphibians by reporting the calls of local frogs and toads. For over ten years, volunteers have been trained to enter their FrogWatch USA information and ongoing analyses of these data have been used to help develop practical strategies for the conservation of these important species.

The goal of the project is to determine the linguistic landscape along I-55 between Chicago and St. Louis (Historic Route 66). We are using phone interviews and doing rapid anonymous studies, where one gets people to say certain words. The process involves asking people for free information in a way that encourages them to say certain words and you'll write down how they say it.

SKYWARN is a national network of volunteer severe weather spotters. The spotters are trained by local National Weather Service Forecast Offices on how to spot severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, hail, and flooding. In some parts of the country, spotters also report snowfall and ice accumulation.

During hazardous weather, such as severe thunderstorms, floods, tornadoes, snow and ice storms, SKYWARN volunteers report what is happening at their location. They are asked to report whenever certain criteria are met such as when one inch of rain has fallen, four inches of snow is on the ground, a thunderstorm is producing hail, or trees have been blown down.

Reports arrive at the forecaster's office via the telephone, fax, Internet, and amateur radio. The reports are combined with radar and satellite data to determine what the storms will do next. Spotters provide the "ground-truth" to forecasters. Radar may tell us that heavy snow is falling, but it can not tell us how much snow is on the ground or if rain is mixing with the snow. Spotters do. The reports are used by forecasters to send out public statements, warnings and advisories, and short-term forecasts.

Two-thirds of SKYWARN volunteers are licensed amateur radio operators. Amateur radio plays a big role in the SKYWARN program. During severe weather, amateur radio volunteers man a radio station at our office. They talk to our spotters in the particular area that a storm is hitting and request information needed by the forecasters such as hail size or rainfall accumulation. Large storms such as hurricanes can knock out phone service. SKYWARN amateur radio volunteers help us when there are communications outages so that we can continue to receive weather reports and feed warnings and other critical information out to communities.

SKYWARN volunteers are people who either have a strong interest in weather or are public service oriented. This includes amateur radio operators, REACT members, or emergency response personnel. Our spotters are all ages beginning as young as 14 and range well into retirement age. We have farmers, pilots, engineers, housewives, lawyers, television cameramen, teachers, students, firemen, and more. Our volunteers are truly diverse but with a common interest in weather and a strong desire to help their community.

The Frog Listening Network trains community volunteers of all ages and backgrounds to collect data about frog and toad populations in west-central Florida. Volunteers learn how to identify amphibians both by sound and by sight.

Volunteers receive free trainings complete with educational materials such as audiotapes and compact discs, CD-ROMs, and full-color field identification cards to help learn each amphibian species and their individual calls. Volunteers also learn how to collect and record frog population data in a way that's fun and easy.

Amphibians are considered "sentinels" of environmental health because of their sensitive skin. Their populations are declining worldwide, so frog and toad populations need to be monitored in Florida. By watching them and keeping track of their populations, we can begin to understand the health of the environment. It is difficult to assemble a professional team to do this, which is why the project relies on the help of volunteers. Although similar to other amphibian monitoring groups across the country, the Frog Listening Network is the only group of its kind in west-central Florida.

Along with additional environmentally important data collected by others, the frog data are compiled into an annual report that is made available for use by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the National Amphibian Monitoring Program. These data help to paint a picture of the health of the environment.

The Acoustics Research Centre at the University of Salford is building a sound map of the world as part of a new study into how sounds in our everyday environment make us feel. We need your help!

We’re asking people across the world to use their mobile phones (or another audio recording device if their phone is not compatible) to record 10 to 15 second clips from different sound environments, or "soundscapes"--anything from the inside of a family car to a busy shopping center. Then we ask volunteers to upload the clips to our virtual map, along with their opinions of the sounds and why they chose to record those particular sounds.

Recordings and responses will be analyaed by acoustic scientists, and significant findings will be reported on this website.

Sound Around You aims to raise awareness of how our soundscape influences us, and could have far reaching implications for professions and social groups ranging from urban planners to house buyers.

Orca Project volunteers in Port Townsend, Washington document orca bones for an online bone atlas, assist in orca education with children's groups, take part in assembling a full-size skeleton for display, participate in the design of a new orca exhibit and conduct research on underwater sounds using a hydrophone.

The project’s goals are to improve public awareness of the challenges faced by killer whales--toxic contamination, underwater noise pollution, and diminishing food supplies in the Puget Sound--as well as develop an appreciation for the whales’ remarkable social bonds and communication abilities.

Funded by the Federal Institute of Museum and Library Services, other organizations, and matching funds, the Orca Project will focus on both the transient and resident killer whales seen in the Northwest United States.

The Orca Project will also offer public lectures, free science classes for Olympic Peninsula students, tours of articulated whale skeletons for school classes, hands-on activities for after-school groups, Bring Your Bones Day (a community event with resident experts helping identify and reveal the mysteries of bones), and focused outreach to the maritime and marine community of Port Townsend, Washington.

A related project in the Puget Sound area is the Salish Sea Hydrophone Network, http://scienceforcitizens.net/project/286/

The Salish Sea Hydrophone Network needs volunteers to help monitor the critical habitat of endangered Pacific Northwest killer whales by detecting orca sounds and measuring ambient noise levels. Volunteers are especially needed in 2010 to help notify researchers when orcas are in the Salish Sea, which encompasses the waters of Puget Sound and the surrounding area.

Sponsored by a coalition of organizations, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Whale Museum in Olympia, Washington, the network consists of five hydrophones, each hooked up to a computer to analyze the signal and stream it via the internet.

Even though software is used to distinguish animal from other underwater sound, human ears do a better job. So volunteers monitor the network from their home computers anywhere in the world, and alert the rest of the network when they hear whale sounds. Sometimes boats or onshore monitors are deployed to observe the whales while they are making sounds. Researchers hope to learn more about the uses of orca communications and whale migration patterns.

Seward Park in Seattle, Washington, needs citizen volunteers to help survey insect-eating bats and analyze the resulting data and images. This will help researchers determine which bats make Seward Park their home.

Seward Park has the potential to be the home of 13 species of insect-eating bats. Park researchers and volunteers use acoustic monitoring devices and sonobat software to translate the very high frequency bat calls into an image that allows one to differentiate between the species.

From May through October, Seward Park researchers and volunteers take acoustic monitoring equipment out into the park and see which bats are chirping through the forest and along the lake.

Seward Park in Seattle, Washington, needs volunteers to record the plants and animals that they see during visits to the park.

Phenology is the study of the natural events of plants and animals. By recording the days, times, and locations of plants and animal sightings, researchers can learn about the various Seward Park ecosystems.

It's easy to participate -- just post any of your observations at the park to the online guest book.

INSPIRE volunteers use build-it-yourself kits to measure and record very low frequency radio emissions. These include naturally occurring "sferics" (short for "atmospherics") often generated by lightning and known as "tweeks," "whistlers," and "chorus" as well as man-made emissions.

There is a great deal of scientific curiosity about the nature and generation mechanisms of natural very low frequency radio emissions and how they interact with the Earth's ionosphere and magnetic fields. INSPIRE is taking an active role in furthering the investigation of very low frequency emissions by involving citizen volunteers in its research.

INSPIRE represents a rare opportunity to work with real NASA space scientists on real scientific problems.

Physics Songs aims to be the world's premier website devoted to collecting and organizing all songs about physics. It is managed by Walter F. Smith, Professor of Physics at Haverford College.

Songs about physics can help students to remember critical concepts and formulas, but perhaps more importantly they communicate the lesson that physics can be fun. They certainly help to establish an informal classroom atmosphere, in which even shy students are willing to ask questions.

The songs may also activate a different part of the students' brains.

A recent issue of Make magazine (http://makezine.com/15/) was devoted to build-them-yourself, high-tech musical instruments. Among the most impressive is a laser harp invented by tech musician Stephen Hobley.

You coax out the computer-generated sounds by waving your hands to break the light beams and change their lengths.

To build a laser harp, you’ll need to be comfortable with such things as MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) technology, circuit boards, photo cells, voltage regulators, and computers. If you’re not a serious amateur music technologist who’s been tinkering for years in the garage, you’ll need to buy or collect a significant amount of hardware and software.

Stephen’s article in Make does include a simpler project—a single-beam “laser theremin,” as opposed to the six-beam laser harp. But even that’s a pretty complex gizmo.

Related Material:
* To see and hear Stephen playing his harp, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCgMsrSaYwY&feature=player_embedded.
* Build a Laser Harp, Make Music With Light (Science Cheerleader): http://www.sciencecheerleader.com/2008/10/build_a_laser_harp_make_music_with_light/

Do you have absolute pitch, the ability to identify or recreate a musical note without any reference? If so, researchers at the Perfect Pitch Test need your help. The Perfect Pitch Test is a study to determine whether absolute pitch differs systematically for different timbres. Your participation involves a brief survey and a pitch-naming test and will make an important contribution to auditory research.

The National Science Digital Library encourages citizens to help enlarge and strengthen their library of high quality resources and tools that support science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education. Developers of content in these subject areas, National Science Foundation grantees, educators and learners, and all other members of the community are welcome to recommend digital resources for the library. These resources include activities, lesson plans, Web sites, simulations, or any materials that help educators meet the demands of an increasingly complex technology-based world.

As a national network of learning environments, resources, and partnerships, the National Science Digital Library seeks to serve a vital role in educational cyberlearning for the nation, meeting the informational and technological needs of educators and learners at all levels.