Your Wild Life

Nat Geo story covering the Never Home Alone iNaturalist project! Keep it up, folks!

Stuck inside? Take your kids on an indoor safari! Our houses are full of fascinating wildlife, if you know where to look.

Our labs are shuttered and all our trips to exotic habitats have been canceled. Luckily, there is one habitat that still holds secrets and is still accessible to us and to you: our own homes! Get inspired to go on a safari and make real discoveries. Read the blog post by Rob Dunn and colleagues here:
https://cals.ncsu.edu/applied-ecology/news/10000-photos-of-the-wild-life-in-homes-and-counting/

Learn the secrets of wild microbes, how bees make bread, and about the worlds oldest cheese, in our new mini-talk series. Every Thursday at 4pm EST–starting TODAY!!
https://youtu.be/W_cwC71gfzk

Back from hiatus: a new blog post about Sourdough for Science!
https://naturalscienceseducation.wordpress.com/2019/05/22/sourdough-for-science-part-8/

Sourdough for Science: Part 8 By special guest blogger Erin McKenney, MS, PhD Dear readers – sorry for my absence! Where has the time gone? Have you ever noticed that baking techniques are like parables for life and science? Si…

Live update happening now! It will also be saved and posted for anyone who cant watch live. https://youtu.be/2_w9C5z_zh8

Conversation with a Scientist: The Showerhead Microbiome Project Update As part of the Showerhead Microbiome Project (http://robdunnlab.com/projects/showerheads/) folks sent us samples of the gunk in their showerheads. Last summe...

Today! 3pm MDT
Showerhead Microbiome Project Livestream Update!
Matt Gebert - lead author on our first paper published based on these samples - will share some of our results so far and then field any questions.
The livestream will be hosted on our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/user/YourWildLife/feed

Reposting two opportunities to re-engage with the Sourdough Project at the Asheville Bread Festival on April 13th! The first workshop focuses on what we've learned from the original global project, and the second summarizes what 275 middle school students learned in a follow-up research project. Hope to see you there!

https://www.ashevillebreadfestival.com/2019/workshops/2019/4/13/global-sourdough-project-with-dr-erin-mckenney

https://www.ashevillebreadfestival.com/2019/workshops/2019/4/13/citizens-science-sourdough-project-with-dr-erin-mckenney

Citizens Science Sourdough Project with Dr. Erin McKenney How does flour affect your sourdough starter? This presentation will center around Sourdough for Science, a citizen science project that launched in Wake and Alamance Counties this year. In February, 274 middle school students grew starters with 6 different flours, and compared differences in microb

New posts about sourdough on the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences education blog!

https://naturalscienceseducation.wordpress.com

NC Museum of Natural Sciences Education Blog NCMNS Education Blog

Update: the new post is live! View it and all future posts here:
https://naturalscienceseducation.wordpress.com/

This month, over 200 middle school students in Raleigh, NC, are growing their own sourdough starters to compare microbial growth and metabolism associated with 6 different flours. You can follow our efforts and results at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences blog:

https://naturalscienceseducation.wordpress.com/2019/02/06/sourdough-for-science-part-1/

NC Museum of Natural Sciences Education Blog NCMNS Education Blog

If you sent us a Showerhead Microbiome sample, keep a look out for an email from us today!

Calling all folks in the Triangle Area:

Interested in an opportunity to take home and raise a butterfly of your own as part of a citizen science project?

Join Pieris Project at the Museum of Life and Science, in Durham, NC for the event "Predicting the Future...with Butterflies!"

Sept 1st from 1-3pm.

Sign up to reserve your spot.

Predicting the Future... With Butterflies! at 5 per person Join us for a unique community science project with NCSU’s Applied Ecology Department! Time: 1pm – 3pm Cost: $5 per person This event is best for people age 5 and over! Location: Woodlands Classroom, in our Southside Campus (next to the new parking deck) Working together with the Mu...

We know more about some of the insects living in the rainforest than we do about some of those in our own houses. Help us study them!

Take a photo of an insect (or any arthropod) in your house and upload it to the "Never Home Alone" project page on the iNaturalist app (or webpage). Downloading the iNaturalist app and adding the project to your profile just take a minute.

We have some prizes for the folks who find the most diversity in their house!

Never Home Alone: The Wild Life of Homes In studying life, scientists have overlooked many regions. Some regions have not been studied because they are so remote. Others because they are so diverse that it is hard to know where to even begin. Then there is the great indoors, which we believe has been understudied in part because it is so i...

Fermented Tea: Harnessing the Power of Microorganisms Programs and Events Calendar Have you ever wondered what is going on inside that bottle of sparkling fermented tea? Part cooking class and part science class, this workshop will give you the practice of making fermented tea (kombucha) from a local brewer while learning the science behind the process from a researcher. We will e...

Calling all foodies, fermenters, and brewers!

Come learn about kombucha at the Museum of Natural Science in Raleigh!
This is the last event in our brand-new series, that combines "cooking" classes with citizen science.

July 11, 9:30am-noon; see event page to register:
http://naturalsciences.org/calendar/event/fermented-tea-harnessing-the-power-of-microorganisms/

Fermented Tea: Harnessing the Power of Microorganisms Programs and Events Calendar Have you ever wondered what is going on inside that bottle of sparkling fermented tea? Part cooking class and part science class, this workshop will give you the practice of making fermented tea (kombucha) from a local brewer while learning the science behind the process from a researcher. We will e...

We're opening this one up to the public, folks! Join us at the Museum of Natural Science on June 11 for a delicious citizen science workshop!

http://naturalsciences.org/calendar/event/fermented-vegetables-harnessing-the-power-of-microorganisms/

Fermented Vegetables: Harnessing The Power of Microorganisms Programs and Events Calendar Have you ever wondered what is going on with all those bubbles inside of a jar of fermenting vegetables? Part cooking class and part science class, this workshop will give you the hands-on practice of making fermented vegetables while learning the science behind the process. We will investigate the....

RIGHT NOW! The Dunn Lab is doing an AMA on Reddit -- ask away!

Hi! We’re scientists from the Dunn Lab in the Department of Applied Ecology at North Carolina State University, and we study the biodiversity and ecology of microbes in things like Sourdough bread, insects and in human homes, Ask us anything! •.. Microbes live everywhere, and are linked to everything we do. The Dunn lab aims to tell the stories of the small species – whether on our bodies,...

Have you ever wanted to learn how to make kimchi (and the science behind it?)? Join us at North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences for a low-cost workshop on fermented vegetables with local chef Mama Kwon. The event is on April 28, from 1-4pm -- for more information and registration, check it out:

You Are Invited: Fermented Vegetables Workshop Our lab has been looking at the science of fermented foods and we thought Our lab has been looking at the science of fermented foods and we thought you might be interested in this opportunity to learn how to make kimchi from Mama Kwon! During this workshop, local chef Mama Kwon will teach you how to...

“Every morning, each of us wakes up covered in species no one has ever studied.”

From the parking lot outside your house to the showerhead inside your washroom, the undiscovered is everywhere Leigh Cowart: Many days I feel like my child sees a fresher picture than I do; her sense of wonder untrammeled by the noise of daily living

Our Students Discover program is featured on Connected Science Learning today (a publication of the National Science Teachers Association and the Association of Science-Technology Centers) along with resources to find more citizen science projects to participate in through SciStarter!

SciStarter | Connected Science Learning SciStarter is an online, open database featuring more than 2,000 citizen science projects, ranging from astronomy to zoology.

Fermented Foods Workshops are now being offered at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences! Join us! http://yourwildlife.org/2018/04/fermented-foods-harnessing-the-power-of-microorganisms/

SciChat: Discover Ants Programs and Events Calendar Go inside the globe of the SECU Daily Planet Theater for SciChat! Join host Chris Smith and this week’s special guest, Dr. Magdalena Sorger. Dr. Sorger is a postdoctoral researcher with the Museum and North Carolina State University. Learn amazing facts about ants, why Magdalena studies ants, and ...

"Through their words and images, we learn how fungi have evolved to survive by consuming and recycling matter to feed itself, defending itself against harm, and that experts have only identified less than one per cent of the estimated five million fungi species."

Preview: The Nature of Things celebrates the fun and fearsome world of fungi | TV, eh?

What's in your garden? - SciStarter Blog Our editors picked five projects you can do in your garden. Learn more about your garden while advancing important scientific research. Learn how, below. AND….Citizen Science Day is April 14th! Find, join or host an event near you to celebrate the awesomeness of citizen science! Cheers, The SciSta...

Are you planning to attend the USA Science & Engineering Festival in Washington, D.C., the Cambridge Science Festival in MA, or the Philadelphia Science Festival in PA? Stop by the SciStarter booth to say hi!

We'll demonstrate the following projects and provide new Citizen Science Kits with everything you’ll need to get started!
ZomBee Watch, Meet your Mites, and Ant Picnic in association with Your Wild Life

Armpit & Earwax Microbe Citizen Science Project Armpit & Earwax Microbe Citizen Science Project We Need You (and Your Microbes) for Science! We are looking for participants to be sampled for an exciting project linking human genetic variation to skin microbes on various body sites: armpits, ears, noses, and ankles. Our big goal is to determine if...

We spied the 💓 Beats Per Life 💓 project on this list of incredible projects about hearts, care and love curated for Valentine's Day.

Do Science With Your Loved Ones This Valentine's Day! - Citizen Science Salon Together, you can participate in any of these projects centered around the heart, love and care. Cheers! The SciStarter Team Health eHeart Study Prefer to stay inside? Join 1 million participants in the Health eHeart Study to join the fight against heart disease. Get started! Location: Online Only B...

It's been a real pleasure getting to know the beautiful yeasts from your starters through The Sourdough Project. We've just posted a short guide to the predominant yeasts growing in sourdough, using macro photos and microscopy of your yeast colonies.

Get to know your sourdough yeast - MicrobialFoods.org Guide to yeasts in sourdough starters

Why Do We Kiss Under The Mistletoe? This holiday season, we're tracing our favorite traditions back to their beginnings. Why do people kiss under mistletoe?