CREDIT: LASP

NASA’s next mission to Mars set to explore the Red Planet’s atmosphere is getting ready to launch on Monday (Nov. 18).

The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft (called MAVEN for short) is expected to investigate how the ancient Red Planet shifted from being a warm, wet world to the cold desert it is today.

“A maven is a trusted expert based on an accumulation of knowledge who seeks to pass that knowledge onto others,” John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for the science mission directorate at NASA, said during a news conference on Oct. 28. “MAVEN, like its entomological origin, will indeed establish the knowledge on which scientists can build a story of the Mars atmosphere and help future human explorers who journey to Mars and the Mars surface.” [NASA’s MAVEN Mission to Mars (Photos)]

via NASA’s Next Mars Probe Set to Launch Monday | Space.com.

Mobile applications for smartphones, tablets and other gadgets can turn just about anyone into a citizen scientist. App-equipped wireless devices give users worldwide the ability to act as remote sensors for all sorts of data as they go through their daily routines—whether it’s invasive garlic mustard weed in Washington State or red-bordered stinkbugs in Quintana Roo, Mexico.

Smartphones can automate data collection and incorporate many important data-gathering functions—such as capturing images, audio and text—into a single tool that can “stamp” the date, time and geographic coordinates associated with an observation, says Alex Mayer, a civil and environmental engineering professor at Michigan Technological University. Mayer is leading a project with Michigan Tech colleague Robert Pastel, an associate professor of computer science, and a group of students to develop new citizen science mobile apps.

via 8 Apps That Turn Citizens into Scientists: Scientific American.