Image of two volunteer scientists catching a fish to collect samples for researchers.
| 4 min read
Across the globe, citizen scientists are fueling research efforts—one mystery slime, insect, swab, and sample at a time.

citizen science

Photograph of a CDBN participant using an insect net to collect insects from a field with wildflowers and other plants.

Citizens Barcode Bugs to Improve Genetic Databases

Illustration of a woman against a pink and purple background with microbes signifying the vaginal microbiome.

Citizen Scientists Help Map the Healthy Vaginal Microbiome

Image of two rabbits in Eastern Australia.

Controlling Pesky Rabbits with Viruses

Image of a woman kneeling next to her open dishwasher. Above her, the microwave door is open. Both the dishwasher and microwave have zoom in circles depicting some form of microbial slime.

Household Slime May Harbor Useful Extremophiles

Image of small blue creatures called Nergals. Some have hearts above their heads, which signify friendship. There is one Nergal who is sneezing and losing health, which is denoted by minus one signs floating around it.

Nergal Networks: Where Friendship Meets Infection

An arcade within the Borderlands video game, next to a hazard sign.

Citizen Scientists Help Geneticists and Microbiologists Tackle Large-Scale Challenges

A person works with their sourdough starter in the kitchen.

Bakers Rise Up to Tackle Sourdough Mysteries

<em >Wolbachia</em> bacteria, marked in green, are found in a wasp&rsquo;s egg, where the wasp&rsquo;s DNA is shown in blue.

A Microbial Ally to Bring Science to the Masses

Image of carpet squares drying in the sun.

In Search of Microbes That Weave Colors into Moroccan Carpets

Trending

Kirsty Wright is searching for evidence in a missing persons investigation. She is wearing a blue shirt and glasses. Behind her is dense vegetation and police procedural tape.

How a Forensic Biologist Exposed a DNA Lab Scandal That Shook Australia

Photo of John Calhoun crouches within his rodent utopia-turned-dystopia

Universe 25 Experiment

Hands holding an older woman’s hands.

One Gene Influences 75 Percent of Alzheimer’s Disease Cases

A picture of Rohita Roy, a postdoc at Stanford University.

Postdoc Portrait: Rohita Roy

Multimedia

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From Data to Discovery: Omics in Therapeutic Innovation

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Exploring Organoids for Disease Modeling Research

February 2026

A Stubborn Gene, a Failed Experiment, and a New Path

When experiments refuse to cooperate, you try again and again. For Rafael Najmanovich, the setbacks ultimately pushed him in a new direction.

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Human-Relevant In Vitro Models Enable Predictive Drug Discovery

Advancing Drug Discovery with Complex Human In Vitro Models

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Redefining Immunology Through Advanced Technologies

Ensuring Regulatory Compliance in AAV Manufacturing with Analytical Ultracentrifugation

Ensuring Regulatory Compliance in AAV Manufacturing with Analytical Ultracentrifugation

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Conceptual multicolored vector image of cancer research, depicting various biomedical approaches to cancer therapy

Maximizing Cancer Research Model Systems

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Beckman Coulter Life Sciences Partners with Automata to Accelerate AI-Ready Laboratory Automation

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Refeyn named in the Sunday Times 100 Tech list of the UK’s fastest-growing technology companies