butterfly/kb
1
0
Fork 0
Code Issues Pull Requests Actions Packages Projects Releases Wiki Activity

Scrape wikipedia-science: 801 new, 929 updated, 1777 total (kb-cron)

Browse Source
This commit is contained in:
turtle89431 2026-05-04 21:13:49 -07:00
parent c3838c6565
commit f861c0cb58
16 changed files with 604 additions and 0 deletions
Show Stats Download Patch File Download Diff File Expand all files Collapse all files

BIN
_index.db
View File

Binary file not shown.

39
data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_chemistry-0.md Normal file
View File

@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
---
title: "Amateur chemistry"
chunk: 1/4
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_chemistry"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:13:47.043148+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---
Amateur chemistry or home chemistry is the pursuit of chemistry as a private hobby. Amateur chemistry is usually done with whatever chemicals are available at disposal at the privacy of one's home. It should not be confused with clandestine chemistry, which involves the illicit production of controlled drugs.[a] Notable amateur chemists include Oliver Sacks and Sir Edward Elgar.
== History ==
=== Origins ===
Amateur chemistry shares its early history with that of chemistry in general. Pioneers of modern chemistry such as Robert Boyle and Antoine Lavoisier were gentlemen scientists who pursued their research independently from their source of income. Only with the coming of the Industrial Revolution, and the rise of universities as research institutions, did any significant distinction between amateurs and professionals emerge.
Nevertheless, amateur progress lasted well into the 19th century. For example, in 1886, Charles Martin Hall co-invented the Hall-Héroult process for extracting aluminium from its oxide whilst working in a woodshed behind his family home.
The history of amateur chemistry ties in well with that of chemistry in general. The history of chemistry represents a time span from ancient history to the present. By 1000 BC, civilizations used technologies that would eventually form the basis to the various branches of chemistry. These processes include extracting metals from ores, making pottery and glazes, fermenting beer and wine, extracting chemicals from plants for medicine and perfume, rendering fat into soap, making glass, and making alloys like bronze.
=== Chemistry as a hobby ===
Throughout much of the 20th century, amateur chemistry was an unexceptional hobby, with high-quality chemistry sets readily available, and laboratory suppliers freely selling to hobbyists. For example, Linus Pauling had no difficulty in procuring potassium cyanide at the age of eleven. Many academics, from researchers to university professors, and even Nobel prize laureates, have acknowledged that at least part of their interest in sciences could be traced back to chemistry sets and home labs when they were young. These include Dorothy Hodgkin, Robert F. Curl, George A. Olah, Rudolph A. Marcus, Louis J. Ignarro, Richard Schrock, Roger Y. Tsien, William D. Phillips, Steven Weinberg, Peter Licence, etc. However, due to increasing concerns about terrorism, drugs, and safety, suppliers became increasingly reluctant to sell to amateurs, and chemistry sets were steadily toned down. This trend has gradually continued, leaving hobbyists in many parts of the world without access to most reagents.
Even as recently as 2023, amateur chemists on forums and YouTube channels have been credited by academic researchers for suggesting and discussing novel viable synthetic routes before full investigations by the latter.
=== Usefulness as a learning and work training tool ===
Home-based chemistry labs were explored as a way to remotely teach students during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially since many local and state-level governments across the world imposed lockdowns or other types of restrictions to contain the spread of the virus.
== Notable amateur chemists ==
Internet pioneer Vint Cerf, Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, and Hewlett Packard co-founder David Packard all used to practice amateur chemistry.
British neurologist Oliver Sacks was a keen amateur chemist in his youth, as described in his memoir Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood.
Nobel Prize winning chemist Linus Pauling practised amateur chemistry in his youth.
Wolfram Research co-founder Theodore Gray is a keen amateur chemist and element collector. His exploits (most notably the construction of a wooden table in the shape of the periodic table, having compartments holding real samples of each element) earned him the 2002 Ig Nobel prize for chemistry, which he accepted as a great honor. He writes a column for Popular Science magazine, featuring his home experiments.
Amateur rocketeer (and later NASA engineer) Homer Hickham, together with his fellow Rocket Boys, experimented with a range of home-made rocket propellants. These included "Rocket Candy" made from potassium nitrate and sugar, and "Zincoshine" made from zinc and sulfur held together with moonshine alcohol.
Composer Sir Edward Elgar practised amateur chemistry from a laboratory erected in his back garden. The original manuscript of the prelude to The Kingdom is stained with chemicals.
Robert Boyle is largely regarded today as the first modern chemist, and therefore one of the founders of modern chemistry, and one of the pioneers of modern experimental scientific method.
Maurice Ward, a hairdresser and amateur chemist who invented the thermal insulating material called Starlite.
Robert Cornelius, inventor, businessman and lamp manufacturer credited for creating the first photographic self-portrait in 1839.
== Restrictions ==
Whilst the hobby is probably legal in most jurisdictions,[b] the relationship between amateur chemists and law enforcement agencies is often fraught. Hobbyists are often affected by laws intended to fight drugs and terrorism. Furthermore, many chemical supply houses refuse to sell to amateurs, with such policies sometimes being stated openly. Even though the regulations discussed in this section may affect professional and academic laboratories (e.g. business and universities), private individuals, or both, amateur chemists are still affected by those addressed to the former ones, since they usually contain clues that explain the behaviour of these chemical suppliers. Medium-sized suppliers and multinationals have whole departments, sometimes named Compliance or Regulatory affairs, tasked with periodically checking and implementing new regulations regarding chemicals on their companies.

35
data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_chemistry-1.md Normal file
View File

@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
---
title: "Amateur chemistry"
chunk: 2/4
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_chemistry"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:13:47.043148+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---
=== Canada ===
In Canada, a wide range of basic laboratory reagents such as nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide are restricted as "explosives precursors". Two of the main legal texts in Canada restricting the sale of certain chemicals are the Explosives Act, and the Explosives Regulations, 2013 (SOR/2013-211). Part 20 of the latter restricts the sale, acquisition, and storage of ten explosives precursors, namely, ammonium nitrate in solid form and with a nitrogen concentration >=28%, hydrogen peroxide >=30% conc., nitromethane, potassium chlorate, potassium perchlorate, solid sodium chlorate, nitric acid >= 75% conc., potassium nitrate, mixtures of potassium nitrate and sodium nitrate, and solid sodium nitrate. In 2021, the Canada Gazette published an amendment proposal to the Explosives Regulations, 2013 [1], which suggested measures including the classification of precursors into three tiers, and the addition of calcium ammonium nitrate, hexamethylenetetramine, aluminium powder, and acetone to the precursors list.
In late 2008, Lewis Casey, an 18-year-old college student from Saskatchewan, was arrested for owning a small chemistry lab in his family's garage. After the raid, the police initially claimed that it was a meth lab, but withdrew the drug charge a few days later. The Crown withdrew criminal charges against him on Oct. 13.
=== European Union ===
In the EU, regulations regarding reagent restrictions can be classified in several different sets: dual-use goods, substances in the Schedules 1, 2 and 3 of the CWC, substances on the Common Military List, hazardous chemicals (as defined by Prior Informed Consent Regulation), chemicals subject to the anti-torture regulation, chemicals that cannot be exported to given countries due to sanctions and embargoes, explosives precursors and drug precursors. Those regulations may contain provisions affecting one or more types of "agents" (e.g. manufacturers, resellers, distributors, etc.), end users, or both. Reagent manufacturers typically require customers to sign an end user declaration before accepting and processing the sale of a chemical listed on these schedules.
One of the cornerstones of EU legislation on hazardous chemicals is the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), which is defined in Regulation (EC) No. 1907/2006
On the topic of explosives precursors, Regulation (EU) No. 98/2013 introduced rules to harmonize the sale, possession and use of several substances across all EU countries. It requires that each member state must define a National Contact Point to which economic operators must report suspicious transactions, thefts, and disappearances of significant quantities involving scheduled substances.
On 1 February 2021, Regulation (EU) 2019/1148 amended REACH and repealed Regulation (EC) No. 98/2013. The newer one is designed to ban the sale and possession of explosives precursors by members of the general public above given concentrations. Any individual can own these chemicals provided their concentration is below or equal to a given limit (e.g. for sulfuric acid up to 15% conc. in weight). Said upper limit allowed can be increased (e.g. for sulfuric acid, up to 40% conc.) by requesting a license to the national authority. Professional users are not affected by these thresholds. However, professional users and members of the general public must also report significant disappearances and thefts of restricted explosives precursors within 24 hours of detection to the national contact point.
Drug precursors:
Regulation (EC) No 273/2004
Regulation (EC) No 111/2005
Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/1011 of 24 April 2015
Regulation (EC) No 273/2004 was amended by Regulation (EU) No 1258/2013, which introduced the term "user", and split reagents on category 2 into categories 2A and 2B
Regarding waste management, it might be considered acceptable to dispose of some acidic or basic solutions by neutralizing and flushing them down the drain, provided that they don't contain other hazardous substances and the reaction products aren't hazardous either. However, other types of wastes must be disposed by handling them to an authorised waste management entity in an appropriate container, usually HDPE jerry cans. Such entities require each container received to be appropriately labeled with several details, which may include GHS hazard pictograms, the EWC (European Waste Catalogue) code, also called LoW (List of Waste) code, that identifies the type of waste. These codes were defined by the Commission Decision 2000/532/EC, later amended by Commission Decision 2014/955/EU. Laboratories typically classify their wastes into those containing halogenated solvents (such as chloroform and dichloromethane, EWC 14 06 02), non-halogenated solvents (like hexane and toluene, EWC 14 06 03 or 20 01 13), non-halogenated mineral oils (e.g. from rotary vane vacuum pumps, EWC 13 02 05, or 13 02 08), contaminated materials (including pipette tips, gloves, filter paper, EWC 15 02 02), contaminated glass (e.g. broken glassware, EWC 15 01 10), discarded reagents (EWC 16 05 06)
Several chemicals, especially solvents, are subject to taxes for certain uses. One such example is ethanol, due to its potential use in alcoholic drinks. Both Council Directive 92/81/EEC, and Council Directive 2003/96/EC, which repealed the former, impose taxes on several hydrocarbons that can be used as fuels. These hydrocarbons include hexane, heptane, isooctane (CN 2901 10 for most saturated acyclic hydrocarbons), petroleum ether (CN 2710 12 25), cyclohexane (CN 2902 11), benzene (CN 2902 20), toluene (CN 2902 30) and xylenes (o-Xylene: CN 2902 41, m-Xylene: CN 2902 42, p-Xylene: CN 2902 43, and a mix of these isomers: CN 2902 44), among others.
==== Germany ====
Regulations regarding hazardous chemicals in this country include the Explosives Act (Sprengstoffgesetz), and the Hazardous Substances Ordinance (Gefahrstoffverordnung, abbreviated as GefStoffV), which is part of the Chemicals Act (Chemikaliengesetz, abbreviated as ChemG). Another one is the Chemicals Prohibition Ordinance (Chemikalien-Verbotsverordnung, abbreviated as ChemVerbotsV). Additionally, Regulation (EU) 2019/1148 was transposed into German law in the Precursor Act (Ausgangsstoffgesetz, Precursor Act, abbreviated as AusgStG).
German amateur chemists have been raided by the police, despite not being in the possession of illegal chemicals.
==== Ireland ====
Regarding explosives precursors, Regulation (EU) 98/2013, was transposed in the Statutory Instrument No 611/2014.

28
data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_chemistry-2.md Normal file
View File

@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
---
title: "Amateur chemistry"
chunk: 3/4
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_chemistry"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:13:47.043148+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---
==== Italy ====
In Italy, regulations regarding explosives precursors have been approved as the Ministry of the Interior's Circolare 557/PAS/U/004997/XV.H.MASS(53)5, titled Identificazione e tracciabilità degli esplosivi per uso civile: - Indicazioni operative e gestione delle scorte. Regulation (EU) 2019/1148 was implemented through the Legge 23 dicembre 2021, n. 238, whose article 13 modifies the Decreto Legislativo 14 settembre 2009, n. 133, adding a whole chapter to the latter (Chapter II, after article 17).
==== Portugal ====
On the topic of explosives precursors, Regulation (EU) 98/2013, was transposed into the Portuguese legal system as the Decree Law 56/2016, of 29th of August. This Decree Law was, in turn, repealed by Decree Law 62/2021, of 26th of July, which transposes Regulation (EU) 2019/1148.
==== Spain ====
Since the 1940s, chemistry sets for kids have been available on the Spanish market, some of these including "Quimicefa", manufactured by the Valencian company Celulosa Fabril SA (CEFA), and later on by CEFA Toys SA; "Cheminova", by Jugetes Mediterráneo SA, from Aldaia, Valencia, later acquired by MB-Hasbro; "La magia de la ciencia: Química" by the Madrilenian company Grupo Anaya SA; and "Quimex", by Quimex, Granollers, Catalonia. On January 3, 1994, Eduardo Rey Díaz, a 13-year-old boy from Getxo, Basque Country, was at a friend's house doing an experiment using materials from a chemistry set. After approaching the open end of a graduated cylinder containing a flammable substance to an open flame, a deflagration occurred, which left him with severe burns in his hands and face. The manufacturer was sued and later fined. Less than a year and a half later, in December 22, 1995, an 11-year-old boy and his 8-year-old sister from Galicia, suffered third and second-degree burns in 70 and 60% of their bodies. After watching them while they performed an experiment using another set from the same company, their mother ordered them to put the game away and left the room, but they kept playing. As a result of incorrectly handling the set, a deflagration occurred, and the company was sued and charged again. By the 2010s, many of them were no longer available. Despite these incidents, the positive impact of chemistry sets on kickstarting the curiosity of children, some of whom would later become professional scientists and engineers, has been acknowledged.
According to the Resolution of 20 November 2013 of the Spanish State Secretariat for Security, the National Contact Point for this country is the Intelligence Center for Counter-Terrorism and Organized Crime (CITCO). Before the transposition of Regulation (EU) 2019/1148 into Spanish Law 25/2022, of 1st of November, explosives precursors were addressed by Law 8/2017, of 8 November, on explosives precursors, which the former repealed and replaced.
On the other hand, drug precursors are addressed by the Law 4/2009, of 15 June, on drug precursors control, and the Royal Decree 129/2017, of 24 February, by which the Drug Precursors Control Regulation is approved. Every year, operators of drug precursors are required to fill a questionnaire, titled "Annual questionnaire for the declaration of operations with scheduled chemicals" ("Cuestionario anual de declaración de operaciones con sustancias químicas catalogadas" in Spanish), stating in-depth details regarding purchases, sales, and operations involving substances listed in the Categories 1, 2 and 3 of the Regulation (EC) No 273/2004 during that year. The first ones (purchases and sales) must include information on the quantities, full contact details and address, and NIF or DNI number of the suppliers or buyers.
Additionally, the storage of chemicals, including reagents, flammable solvents, and gas cylinders, is regulated by Royal Decree 656/2017, of 23 June. Industrial establishments also need to take into account Royal Decree 2267/2004, of 3 December, by which the fire safety regulations for industrial establishments are approved.
In general, the topic of hazardous waste management is discussed on Law 22/2011, of 28 July, on wastes and contaminated soils, which was repealed and replaced by Law 7/2022, of 8 April. The transport of wastes is regulated as well, by the Royal Decree 553/2020, of 2 June. Business that meet the definition of 'waste producers' or 'waste management facilities' need to obtain an Environmental Identification Number (Número de identificación medioambiental, NIMA). Said numbers are issued by the government of the autonomous community where the business is located.
Several EU regulations regarding special taxes have been transposed to Spanish regulations in Law 38/1992, of 28 December, of Special Taxes. It was later extended by the Royal Decree 1165/1995, of 7 July, by which the Regulation on Special Taxes is approved.
According to article 79 of the latter, even though ethanol is subject to a special tax due to its potential use in spirits, its use in scientific research can be exempted. This exemption requires obtaining an Activity and Establishment Code (Código de Actividad y del Establecimiento, CAE), which allows to request a refund from the Tax Agency (Agencia Tributaria) by submitting a filled form model 572. Said code is composed of 13 characters, the first two being "ES", then three zeros, two characters identifying the local management office, two more characters for the activity, a sequential inscription number made up of three characters, and finally a control letter.
A refund can also be requested for the special tax on hydrocarbons as long as they aren't used as fuels, according to article 109 the same Royal Decree (1165/1995, of 7 July).
==== Sweden ====
One of the laws regulating chemicals in Sweden is the Act on flammable and explosive goods (Lag om brandfarliga och explosiva varor).

52
data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_chemistry-3.md Normal file
View File

@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
---
title: "Amateur chemistry"
chunk: 4/4
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_chemistry"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:13:47.043148+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---
=== Norway ===
In September 2018, a 29-year-old physician and amateur chemist and his girlfriend were arrested at their home on in Nord-Jæren, two days after inquiring a local pharmacy about the availability of 35% hydrogen peroxide. He explained that he had an accident while camping, suffering a wound that he stitched himself. Being a physician and seeing the effect of flame-sterilizing on his surgical instruments, he was looking for a milder alternative that could also be used to disinfect wounds. However, his enquiry triggered the submission of an alert to KRIPOS, which sent a few police officers to the house. These officers would, in turn, find the chemicals from his lab, and arrest him.
One law in this country that regulates flammable chemicals, gas cylinders, and explosive substances is the Fire and Explosion Protection Act (Brann- og eksplosjonsvernloven).
=== United Kingdom ===
In the UK it is a criminal offence for members of the general public to purchase, and for business to sell, certain types of poisons or explosives precursors to those of the former group without a valid EPP license. Purchasing substances on this list is restricted since 26 May 2015, and its possession is also restricted since 3 March 2016. Since July 1st 2018, the acquisition of sulphuric acid in concentrations above 15% in weight by members of the general public also requires an EPP licence, which has impacted lead-acid battery sellers.
On 26 February 2022, three men, aged between 20 and 25, were arrested in Wigan on suspicions they had violated Section 4 of the Explosives Act. A search warrant had found several chemicals on their flat. Soon after, the eldest was released on bail, and the other two were also released under investigation. Two years later, in May 2024, the investigation concluded that they had just been doing amateur chemistry, and none of the three were charged.
Some regulations regarding restricted chemicals in this country include the Poison Act 1972, which was amended by the Deregulation Act 2015, and the Control of Poisons and Explosives Precursors Regulations 2015. On 1 October 2023, a new set of amendments to the Poisons Act 1972, known as the "Control of Poisons and Explosives Precursors Regulations 2023", came into force. According to these amendments, hexamine, hydrochloric acid in concentrations 10% w/w and higher, and ammonium nitrate with a nitrogen content of 16% or higher, and phosphoric acid in 30% w/w concentration or higher are now considered "regulated explosives precursors" instead of either "reportable explosives precursors" or "reportable poisons". The sulfides of aluminium, calcium, magnesium, sodium and zinc, as well as arsenic and its compounds are now considered "regulated poisons" rather than just "reportable poisons". Finally, sulfur, all metal phosphides, all metal sulfides, all metal polysulfides and sodium hypochlorite solutions above 6% available chlorine have been added to the "reportable poisons" list.
Directly related to the above is the Offensive Weapons Act 2019, which forbids the sale of corrosive chemicals to minors, as well as their shipment to residential addresses or lockers.
=== United States ===
In the United States, the Drug Enforcement Administration maintains lists regarding the classification of illicit drugs, which contain chemicals that are used to manufacture the controlled substances/illicit drugs. The lists are designated within The Controlled Substances Act, 21 U.S.C. § 802, paragraphs 34 (list I) and 35 (list II).
Additionally, some regions have stringent regulations concerning the ownership of chemicals and equipment. For example, Texas once required the registration of even the most basic laboratory glassware. However, this requirement was repealed on June 6, 2019.
Several states define hazardous waste management laws, one example being the California Hazardous Waste Control Law (Cal. Health and Safety Code § 25100
-§ 25259
). Passed in 2017, California Assembly Bill (AB) 245 raised the maximum administrative and civil penalties for violations of said law from $25,000 per day of noncompliance to $70,000 per day.
United Nuclear, an amateur science supplier based in New Mexico was raided in June 2003 at the behest of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, and subsequently fined $7,500 for "Selling Illegal Fireworks Components".
In 2008, the home laboratory of Victor Deeb, a retired chemist, was raided and dismantled
Almost a year later, Jack Robison, then a 19-year-old chemistry student at the Holyoke Community College, received a visit from members of the Massachusetts State Police, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the FBI. They asked him questions regarding several videos on small-scale experiments he had posted two years earlier on YouTube involving energetic materials, including PETN, potassium nitrate, and RDX, and wanted to check his mother's house basement. He was initially charged with three counts of malicious explosion and one count of possessing explosives with the intent to harm people or property, facing up to 60 years in prison, but was found not guilty after trial.
== In popular culture ==
Amateur chemistry has been depicted multiple times in mass media, through different formats. The protagonists or other characters of animated television series like Dexter's Laboratory, Tracey McBean and The Simpsons (e.g. on the Haw-Haw Land episode) are sometimes displayed performing chemistry experiments in their own laboratories.
On the other hand, there are several YouTube channels focused in chemical experiments. Most of them are run by amateurs, mostly by professional communicators and organizations, though there are a small sample of professional chemists.
== See also ==
Element collecting
Do-it-yourself biology
== Notes ==
== References ==
== Further reading ==
Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments; 1st Ed; Robert Thompson; 432 pages; 2008; ISBN 978-0596514921.
Chemistry in the Home; 1st Ed; Henry Weed; 385 pages; 1915.
== External links ==
Sciencemadness, an Internet community of amateur chemists
Versuchschemie, a now-defunct Internet forum for amateur chemistry discussion
Illumina Chemie, another Internet forum in German for chemistry discussion
Myttex Forum, an Internet forum in Italian focusing on chemistry
List of commonly available chemicals

23
data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BirdTrack-0.md Normal file
View File

@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
---
title: "BirdTrack"
chunk: 1/1
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BirdTrack"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:13:36.875090+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---
BirdTrack is an online citizen science website, operated by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) on behalf of a partnership of the BTO, the RSPB, BirdWatch Ireland, the Scottish Ornithologists' Club and the Welsh Ornithological Society (Welsh: Cymdeithas Adaryddol Cymru). It is also available though mobile apps.
BirdTrack allows birdwatchers to record the names and numbers of birds seen in a specified location anywhere in the world. It acts as a log for those wishing to maintain lists of their own sightings, but also feeds data into various scientific surveys, is used for research and conservation purposes, and generates maps for public consumption. The maps are rendered using OpenStreetMap data.
BirdTrack is part of WorldBirds, a global initiative to record bird sightings.
In October 2014, data from BirdTrack was used as evidence in the conviction of a gamekeeper for illegally killing ten Common Buzzards and an Eurasian Sparrowhawk.
== References ==
== External links ==
Official website (web interface; login required)
BirdTrack Android app tutorial on YouTube
BirdTrack iPhone app tutorial on YouTube

33
data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blueberry_galaxy-0.md Normal file
View File

@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
---
title: "Blueberry galaxy"
chunk: 1/3
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blueberry_galaxy"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:13:38.048281+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---
Blueberry galaxies (BBs) are dwarf starburst galaxies that have very high ionization rates and some of the lowest stellar masses and metallicities.
They are smaller counterparts of Green Pea galaxies (GPs), but
are more compact being less than 1⁄3000th the size of the Milky Way,
are less distant, existing in low-density environments that are within the local universe, and
have lower luminosities. BBs form one of the youngest classes of star-forming galaxies with median ages ~70 Myr. Two BBs are among the most metal-poor galaxies known within the local universe.
BBs were first named in the scientific literature by Yang et al. (2017) as GPs that were at a distance of redshift z=0.05 or less, although similar galaxies had originally been named BBs on the Galaxy Zoo website. While Yang et al. identified a sample of 40 BBs, a much larger sample was acquired using data from the LAMOST DR9 survey. Liu et al. found 270 BBs, as well as GPs and "Purple Grapes". Researchers undertook a systematic study of the star formation rates, metallicities and environments of the compact galaxies that have different colours because of the different positions of emission lines in the photometric bands.
BBs at redshift z < 0.05 have the [O III] λ5007 emission line within the g band, which makes their colors blue; purple grapes are those at z > 0.36 with [O III]λ5007 within the i band and the UV continuum redshifted to the g band (typically redshift 0.05 ≤ z < 0.112); GPs are in the redshift range of 0.112 < z < 0.36 and have the [O III]λ5007 line within the r band.
== Comparison to high-redshift galaxies ==
BBs, or "peas of various colours", have recently been studied as analogs for high-redshift galaxies that have been observed by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) (e.g.). Three examples of this are:
"JADES: Probing interstellar medium conditions at z ~ 5.5–9.5 with ultra-deep JWST/NIRSpec spectroscopy" (diagram top right) examines 27 galaxies at high redshifts that were observed with JWST/NIRSpec. The study measured various emission lines from the ultra-deep JADES survey so as to gauge the ratios between the chemicals identified and categorise them into groupings, or 'spaces'. BBs are identified as local analogs to these JADES galaxies, along with GPs, as they have "extreme properties" such as metallicity, low mass and very high ionization. They find that "galaxies in this sample occupy regions of line-ratio space that are offset from those inhabited by typical galaxies at z ~ 0 or z ~ 2, although generally aligned with more extreme low-redshift populations such as 'blueberry' and 'green pea' dwarf starbursts".
In the study "Evolution of the Mass–Metallicity Relation from Redshift z ≈ 8 to the Local Universe" (Langeroodi et al. 2023), BBs and GPs are compared to a sample of 11 galaxies from JWST that are at redshift z ≈ 8. Using NIRCam and NIRSpec spectroscopy, metallicities and stellar masses are measured and then compared to extremely low metallicity analogs such as BBs. The study finds that the z ≈ 8 sample are generally distinct from extreme emission line galaxies or GPs but are similar in strong emission line ratios and metallicities to BBs. The study finds that BBs and GPs have metallicities similar to the z ≈ 8 galaxies, but "Despite this similarity, at a fixed stellar mass, the z ≈ 8 galaxies have systematically lower metallicities compared to BBs."
The study "NGDEEP: The Star Formation and Ionization Properties of Galaxies at 1.7 < z < 3.4" (diagram bottom right) uses the JWST FGS-NIRISS from the Next Generation Deep Extragalactic Exploratory Public (NGDEEP) Survey to investigate a sample of 178 star-forming galaxies at redshifts 1.7 < z < 3.4. Using slitless spectroscopy, the authors select galaxies with ionizing oxygen and hydrogen emission features. BBs and GPs are used extensively as comparison galaxies at redshft z ~ 0 as they have strong emission lines "which may have properties more similar to those of high-redshift galaxies". As well as 36 BBs and 43 GPs, galaxies from SDSS and 45 from the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph Legacy Spectroscopic Survey (CLASSY) with similar redshifts are used all of which have ionized oxygen measurements. Among their results, they find that:
Galaxies with a redshift z ~ 2–3 have comparable or lower ionized oxygen ratios (O32) "to that measured for extreme galaxies at z ~ 0 at the fixed stellar mass, SFR, sSFR, and Hα and Hβ EW, indicating these extreme galaxies at z ~ 0 have similar to higher ionization parameters and similar to lower metallicity" and
The authors' NGDEEP sample spans a wide range of O32 and stellar masses, "which helps bridge the gap between the local and the z > 5 universe. We find an evolutionary trend in O32 and EW(Hβ) from z ~ 0 to z ~ 5, where higher redshift galaxies show increased O32 and EW, with possibly higher O32 at fixed EW."
== Further studies ==
In "X-ray observations of Blueberry galaxies" (Adamcová et al 2024) BBs are studied using the XMM-Newton space telescope. These observations are the first to use x-rays and deliver surprising results. Of the 7 BBs studied, only 2 were detected as having significant x-ray emissions, while the remaining 5 are considered under-luminous. One theory as to why this might be is that because the stellar population of BBs is very young and "hasn't yet evolved enough to produce binary systems with a normal star paired with a neutron star or black hole, which shine brightly in X-ray."
A massive BB named SHOC 579 has been studied using the SDSS MaNGA survey by Paswan et al. (2022). Using data from MaNGA and a variety of sources such as GALEX and Spitzer, a BB next to an older disk-like structure is investigated. Both objects are at redshift z=~ 0.0472. Their conclusions (shortened & quoted) find that the BB is:

36
data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blueberry_galaxy-1.md Normal file
View File

@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
---
title: "Blueberry galaxy"
chunk: 2/3
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blueberry_galaxy"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:13:38.048281+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---
is the most massive and metal-rich one for which we have direct observational evidence of an old stellar population,
the age of the stellar population to be ~5 Gyr and ~7 Gyr for the blueberry component and the stellar disk, respectively,
GPs and BBs generally and their extreme emission-line properties are likely due to recent strong starburst events, potentially triggered by an external gas accretion process,
the presence of old stars imply that mechanisms that allow the escape of ionizing photons in these local objects may be different from those at play during the epoch of reionization.
In "FAST H I 21 cm Study of Blueberry Galaxies" (Chandola et al 2024) 28 BBs are studied using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope. The sample of BBs are observed over a 3 year period using FAST to measure the H I, or neutral hydrogen, using the 21 cm spectral line. By finding out the H I levels, the depletion rate of any H I 'reservoirs' can be deduced. Generally, the lower the stellar mass, the higher the amount of H I is present i.e. has not yet been used up in star formation. Two of the 28 are found to have these reservoirs and overall, only 7% of the 28 have an H I detection, which are lower values than those of main sequence galaxies.
The study "Blueberry galaxies up to 200 Mpc and their optical and infrared properties" (Kouroumpatzakis et al. 2024) analyses 48 BBs. Using data from the HECATE catalog, photometry from Pan-STARRS, SDSS and ALLWISE, and spectroscopy from MPA-JHU, 40 previously known BBs and 8 unknowns were identified. 14 of the 48 were from the less-studied southern hemisphere. They conclude that BBs are the most intensely starforming sources among dwarf galaxies in the local universe. They are less massive, more blue in visible light and redder in the infrared. BBs "have higher specific starformation rates, equivalent widths, lower metallicities, and the most strongly ionized interstellar medium compared to typical SFGs and GPs."
In "H I imaging of a Blueberry galaxy suggests a merger origin" (Dutta et al. 2024) a BB is observed with the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT). H I is detected in the BB J1509+3731, which is at redshift z = 0.03259 (image shown right), The H I is found to have a depletion time of 0.2 Gyr which indicates a high star formation rate than comparable standard blue compact galaxies. Combining the radio observations with images from the DESI Legacy Survey, it is shown that there is an H I offset outside the optical boundaries as seen on the DESI image. They conclude that "such an offset could be a sign of a merger event which can also trigger a starburst" and that, combined with other studies, this highlights "the role of dwarf galaxy mergers in the leakage of ionizing photons, and thus their role in cosmic reionization ".
"Radio Continuum Emission from Local Analogs of High-z Faint LAEs: Blueberry Galaxies" (Sebastian et al. 2019) studies the radio continuum from BBs using the GMRT. The authors find that the star formation rate of BBs is suppressed by a factor of ~3 when compared to optical emissions lines and infer that this might be due to:
the young ages of these galaxies or,
the escape of cosmic ray electrons via diffusion or galactic scale outflows.
From the BBs sample in Yang et al. (2017), they select a subset of 10 of the brightest galaxies. Having captured the flux densities from 9 of these, they were combined with images from DECaLS showing how far the radio observations extended from the visible galaxies. After assuming that the stellar mass was built up from starburst activity, they calculate the time from the onset of this burst to within a range of 30 Myr to 370 Myr with a median of ~70 Myr. The emission of synchrotron radiation is found to be small and that it is plausible that the star formation in BBs has not been going on long enough for this to become a dominant force. They conclude: "In our study, we are not able to distinguish between the different scenarios that lead to the decrement in the radio continuum emission."
A sample of Extreme Emission Line Galaxies (EELGs) was found by a survey detailed in "J-PLUS: Uncovering a large population of extreme [OIII] emitters in the local Universe". Using the Javalambre Photometric Local Universe Survey (J-PLUS) 466 EELGs at redshift z < 0.06 with [OIII] EW over 300 Å and an r-band magnitude below 20 were identified, of which 411 were previously unknown. Using additional data from WISE, Gaia and SDSS, a much fainter sample of galaxies was found than had previously been observed. Among the galaxy sample were BBs which resulted in a ten-fold increase in the density of BBs known. In the diagram on the right, it is shown that the "sample of EELGs covers the region of the Yang et al. (2017) blueberry galaxies (since they present extreme [OIII] emission at our redshift range), as expected, but it also covers the same color space as extremely metal-poor galaxies both from observations and models". Among the results, it was found that the EELGs had:
low stellar masses
very young ages
moderately low metallicities
exceptionally high [OIII] EW, all of which are typical of low-mass galaxies with high star formation activity.
The authors' sample was "much more efficient than searches made using broadband surveys, such as the blueberry galaxies (Yang et al. 2017) or the green peas (Cardamone et al. 2009)". They conclude that the EELGs they identified share characteristics that make them similar to galaxies at high redshift and might help "shed light onto the properties of the galaxies forming in the very early Universe."
While many sources have identified GPs/BBs as analogs of early galaxies, several studies have identified the presence of an older stellar population within some examples, something that could not have been possible in the early universe.
== Different terminologies ==

39
data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blueberry_galaxy-2.md Normal file
View File

@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
---
title: "Blueberry galaxy"
chunk: 3/3
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blueberry_galaxy"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:13:38.048281+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---
While some authors continue to name these blue low-redshift compact starforming galaxies as BBs, some have broadened the original criteria for GPs and, perhaps confusingly, call BBs as GPs. An example of this is the study "New Insights on Lyα and Lyman Continuum Radiative Transfer in the Greenest Peas" (Jaskot et al. 2019) in which blue objects at very low redshifts are named as GPs . In this study, 13 blue and green galaxies at various redshifts are observed using the Hubble Space Telescope Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) from which spectra are produced. The authors seek the levels of the ionizing Lyman continuum photons which might be important when considering the epoch of reionization in the early universe.
In a 2011 study, Izotov et al. classified BBs as 'Luminous Compact Galaxies' but did not refer to them by name, stating that blue, purple and green Pea galaxies were the same type of object at distances between redshifts z=~0.02 to ~0.63.
In the publication: "Proceedings of the conference 'The Interplay between Local and Global Processes in Galaxies', Cozumel, Mexico, 2016-4" (Hidalgo-Gámez et al. 2017a ), the authors in an accompanying presentation call galaxies similar to BBs 'Blue marbles' or purple Pea galaxies 'Purple marbles'. They state: "Although some authors have concluded that all three are the same kind of galaxies, we have studied them carefully and found out that there are important differences among the properties, including the scaling relations."
"Chemical Abundances of a Sample of Oxygen-dominated Galaxies" (Miranda-Pérez et al. 2023) seeks to determine the chemical abundances of 88 Extreme Emission Line Galaxies by spectroscopy. The sample of 88 compact, oxygen-dominated galaxies were taken from SDSS DR7 and were selected because of their large equivalent width of [O III]λ5007 (more than 200 Å). The authors determined oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur, neon, argon, iron and chlorine levels and found a mean metallicity of 12 + log(O/H) ≈ 8. Their sample contained objects that they placed into 3 colour sets: 23 blue, 29 purple and 36 green. The galaxies were those colours because of where the strong [OIII] emission line fell in the SDSS spectrum according to redshift of the object: blue nearby, then purple with green the furthest away at redshift z < 0.35. 12% of the galaxies were found to Extremely Metal Poor (XMP). It became clear that "that there is a lack of evolution in the chemical abundance for all the elements for such a long time, about 4.6 Gyr" while "it is expected that galaxies at high redshift might have lower metallicities".
See also "Chemical abundances of a sample of coloured galaxies" (Hidalgo-Gámez et al. 2017b), and "Coloured galaxies" (Hidalgo-Gámez et al. 2019) presentation at "Small Galaxies, Cosmic Questions", Durham University.
== Purple pea galaxies ==
Purple Pea galaxies (PPs) are counterparts of Green Pea galaxies and Blueberry galaxies, often being termed 'Purple Grapes'. The PPs sample shown in the image to the right has 15 dwarf starburst galaxies and was taken from a list on the Galaxy Zoo website. As in other samples, these PPs are at a distance of redshit 0.05 ≤ z < 0.112 which places them about halfway in distance between GPs and BBs. The 24 galaxies named 'Purple marbles' in Hidalgo-Gámez et al. 2017a are at an average distance of redshift z = 0.09 and so fall within the range of PPs.
== Little blue dots ==
The study "Little Blue Dots in the Hubble Space Telescope Frontier Fields: Precursors to Globular Clusters?" (Elmegreen et al. 2017) examines images from the HST Frontier Fields Parallels, finding galaxies they name as Little Blue Dots (LBDs). When compared to BBs, LBDs are less massive and have a higher specific star formation rate, suggesting that their entire stellar mass has formed in only 1% of the local age of the universe. They are considered to be low-mass analogs of BBs. The authors find 55 LBDs between redshifts z=~0.73 and ~4.09 that appear as different colour objects because of their distance. They suggest that "objects like this are the long-sought progenitors of low-metallicity globular clusters, which formed in dwarf galaxies and were assimilated into the halos of today's spirals and ellipticals."
== See also ==
Citizen science
Galaxy formation and evolution
Faint blue galaxy
Gems of the Galaxy Zoos
Haro 11
Irregular galaxy
Little red dot (galaxy)
Lyman-alpha forest
== References ==
== External links ==
"February 2024: Blueberries and Peas" - Podcast from the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics featuring an interview about Blueberries and Green Peas (22m45s - 32m43s). February 2024.
"What are Green Peas? - Article about Green Peas from the BBC Sky at Night magazine. November 2024.

43
data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breeding_bird_survey-0.md Normal file
View File

@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
---
title: "Breeding bird survey"
chunk: 1/1
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breeding_bird_survey"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:13:39.273383+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---
A breeding bird survey monitors the status and trends of bird populations. Data from the survey are an important source for the range maps found in field guides. The North American Breeding Bird Survey is a joint project of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the Canadian Wildlife Service. The UK Breeding Bird Survey is administered by the British Trust for Ornithology, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
The results of the BBS are valuable in evaluating the increasing and decreasing range of bird population which can be a key point to bird conservation. The BBS was designed to provide a continent-wide perspective of population change.
== History ==
The North American Breeding Bird Survey was launched in 1966 after the concept of a continental monitoring program for all breeding birds had been developed by Chandler Robbins and his associates from the Migratory Bird Population Station. The program was developed in Laurel, Maryland. In the first year of its existence there were nearly 600 surveys conducted east of the Mississippi River. One year later, in 1967, the survey spread to the Great Plains states and by 1968 almost 2000 routes had been established across southern Canada and 48 American states. As more birders were introduced to this program, the number of active BBS routes continued to increase. In the 1980s, the Breeding Bird Survey included Yukon, Northwest Territories of Canada and Alaska. Additionally, the number of routes in established states has increased. Currently, there are approximately 3700 active BBS routes in the United States and Canada, of which approximately 2900 are surveyed on an annual basis. The density of the routes varies greatly across the continent and the largest number of routes can be found in New England and Mid-Atlantic states. Many bird watchers participate in these surveys as they find the experience rewarding. Future plans for the BBS include expanding coverage in central and western North America, and adding routes in northern Mexico.
The surveys conducted by BBS take place during the peak of the nesting season; usually June, but also May in regions with warmer temperatures. A typical BBS route is 24.5 miles long with a stop every 0.5 miles, adding up to 50 stops per route. Routes are randomly located in order to sample habitats that are representative of the entire region.
BBS data is quite difficult to analyze given that the survey does not produce a complete counting of the breeding bird populations but more like a relative abundance index. Even so, these surveys have proved to be of great value in studying bird population trends.
BBS data can also be used to produce continental-scale relative abundance maps. When analyzed at larger scales, the relative abundance maps can offer a clear indication of the status and distribution of bird species that are observed by the BBS. However, the most effective use of these surveys is the opportunity to analyze population trends, though information on the factors that cause these changes cannot be determined.
The BTO/JNCC/RSPB Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) is a national project aimed at keeping track of changes in the breeding populations of widespread bird species in the UK. The program started in 1992, and has been successfully used by Governments and different non-Governmental organizations for bird conservation purposes since 1994. The RSPB BBS coordinates over 3200 active routes, with more than 3000 birders involved in monitoring the population trends of more than 100 bird species.
== See also ==
Australian Bird Count (ABC)
BioBlitz ("24-hour inventory")
Pilling's Pond
Breeding in the wild
Christmas Bird Count (CBC) (in the Western Hemisphere)
Seabird Colony Register (SCR)
The EBCC Atlas of European Breeding Birds
Tucson Bird Count (TBC) (in Arizona in the US)
the World Series of Birding in New Jersey (a 24-hour state inventory teams race)
== References ==
== External links ==
North American Breeding Bird Survey
UK Breeding Bird Survey
British Columbia Breeding Bird Atlas
Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas

30
data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BugGuide-0.md Normal file
View File

@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
---
title: "BugGuide"
chunk: 1/1
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BugGuide"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:13:40.438678+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---
BugGuide (or BugGuide.net) is a website and online community of naturalists, both amateur and professional, who share observations of arthropods such as insects, spiders, and other related creatures. The website consists of informational guide pages and many thousands of photographs of arthropods from the United States and Canada which are used for identification and research. The non-commercial site is hosted by the Iowa State University Department of Entomology. BugGuide was conceived by photographer Troy Bartlett in 2003 and since 2006 has been maintained by John VanDyk, an adjunct assistant professor of entomology and a senior systems analyst at Iowa State University. The website has been recognized for helping change the public perception of insects.
According to gardening author Margaret Roach, "The site is where naturalists of all levels share photos of 'insects, spiders and their kin' to foster enthusiasm and expand the knowledge base about these often-overlooked (and as BugGuide points out, 'oft-maligned') creatures."
== Statistics ==
According to VanDyk, BugGuide had over 809 million hits in 2010, averaging approximately 26 hits per second. He also stated that in early 2011 the site consisted of almost 34,000 written pages representing about 23 percent of the estimated insect species in North America. In April 2012 the guide surpassed 500,000 photos. By October 2014, BugGuide had 30,774 species pages and 48,572 total pages, with over 808,718 images submitted by more than 27,846 contributors. On 22 September 2014, BugGuide surpassed 1,000,000 pages (most of which are photographs).
== Contributions to science ==
The photographs posted have contributed to or resulted in several scientific publications. A large proportion of images featured in an atlas of vespid wasps are credited to contributors to BugGuide. BugGuide photographs have detected new state records of invasive pest ants and beetles.
Geologist and moth collector Richard Wilson said of the site, "The BugGuide site is very useful for anyone finding an insect and it is very interactive on getting it identified if a picture can be taken."
According to the site itself, BugGuide.net has been responsible for the identification of 11 new, previously undescribed species as of mid-2014. In addition, 12 species new to the Western Hemisphere were first identified via the site; another seven were new to North America; and numerous new country records (primarily the United States) and state/county sightings.
== References ==
== External links ==
Official website

80
data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_count-0.md Normal file
View File

@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
---
title: "Butterfly count"
chunk: 1/1
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_count"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:13:43.075266+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---
Butterfly counts are often carried out in North America and Europe to estimate the populations of butterflies in a specific geographical area.
The counts are conducted by interested, mostly non-professional, residents of the area who maintain an interest in determining the numbers and species of butterflies in their locale. A butterfly count usually occurs at a specific time during the year and is sometimes coordinated to occur with other counts which may include a park, county, entire state or country. The results of the counts are usually shared with other interested parties including professional lepidopterists and researchers. The data gathered during a count can indicate population changes and health within a species.
== Sponsors ==
Professionals, universities, clubs, elementary and secondary schools, other educational providers, nature preserves, parks, and amateur organizations can organize a count. The participants often receive training to help them identify the butterfly species. The North American Butterfly Association organized over 400 counts in 2014.
== Types of butterfly counts ==
There are several methods for counting butterflies currently in use, with the notable division being between restricted and open searches. Most counts are designed to count all butterflies observed in a locality. The purpose of a count is to estimate butterfly populations in a larger area from a smaller sample.
Counts may be targeted at single species and, in some cases, butterflies are observed and counted as they move from one area to another. A heavily researched example of butterfly migration is the annual migration of monarch butterflies in North America. Some programs will tag butterflies to trace their migration routes, but these are migratory programs and not butterfly counts. Butterfly counts are sometimes done where there is a concentration (a roost) of a species of butterflies in an area. One example of this is the winter count of western monarch butterflies as they roost together at sites in California, northern Mexico and Arizona.
=== Restricted searches: transects ===
Frequently referred to as "Pollard Transects" or "Pollard Walks" in North America, a transect is a protocol designed to standardize the recording of butterfly observations, the initial format was outlined by Ernie Pollard in 1977. The transect protocol involves one observer walking a fixed path at a constant pace, multiple times in a season. Butterflies are counted when they are seen within a prescribed distance from the path, often 2.5 meters on either side of the path, and only when the butterflies are seen in front of, or above, the observer (i.e., no backtracking). A second person may work with the observer to identify and/or photograph insects spotted by the observer. Transects should not change from year to year and ideally should sample a variety of habitats.
Examples of long-running restricted searches are Art Shapiro's Butterfly Project in the US (started in 1972), and the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (started in 1976).
=== Open searches ===
Open searches, also sometimes referred to as "checklist searches", are intended to focus on the presence and abundance of butterflies in a given area. They can be single events such as the North American Butterfly Association's July 1 and July 4 counts in Canada and the U.S. respectively, or they can be regular or ad hoc counts conducted by individuals or groups. The lack of formal structure makes them suitable for many citizen science programs.
In terms of the relative outcomes or the efficacy of open vs. restricted searches, studies have shown that open searches are more likely to find a greater number of species in a given area. Royer, et al. note that one reason for this is that during an open search, the "observer is free to search out places where butterflies typically would breed or congregate" rather than follow the fixed path of a transect.
=== Opportunistic sightings ===
Opportunistic or incidental sightings are butterfly sightings that are not part of a formal count. Observers may note signal butterflies or multiple species. An example of an opportunistic sighting is observing a butterfly in a garden and reporting it.
=== Atlas projects ===
Described as a "special type of open search", atlas projects are generally targeted at a specific geographical area such as a province or state. The goal is to assess the presence or absence of species, usually over a multi-year period. Each atlas program will design its own data requirements but as they are measuring abundance and presence, they tend to accept data from transects, counts, and opportunistic sightings to build a database. The longest-running atlas program in North America is the Ontario Butterfly Atlas Online, which is supported by the Toronto Entomologists' Association and began collecting data in 1969.
=== Bait stations ===
Transects and open searches are not as comprehensive in tropical locations due to issues such as the density of flora and the height of the forest canopy. A counting system using bait stations with fermenting fruit has been used to assess specific populations.
== Quantifying observations ==
Participants are encouraged to employ a number of techniques to quantify large aggregations by making estimates of butterflies:
concentrated along linear features
concentrated in an area of uniform habitat
concentrated on certain plants
butterflies in flight
The number of butterflies can be estimated by the area size they inhabit, for example, in the overwintering population present in Mexico the population expressed in hectares.
Butterflies can be counted in their egg, larvae and instar number.
Butterflies are sometimes captured, tagged, and recovered. The number of tags recovered in a specific area is used to determine population size and direction of flight.
== See also ==
Butterfly Conservation
North American Butterfly Association
Lepidoptera migration
List of butterflies of Great Britain
Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve
Animal Migration
eButterfly
== References ==
== External links ==
UK Big Butterfly Count
eButterfly - North American butterfly reporting
NABA Butterfly Counts
Monarch Watch
Ontario Butterfly Atlas - a dynamic map of 417,000 butterfly sightings in the province (as of June 2020)
Butterfly Conservation Europe

82
data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_Mineral_Challenge-0.md Normal file
View File

@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
---
title: "Carbon Mineral Challenge"
chunk: 1/1
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_Mineral_Challenge"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:13:44.365352+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---
The Carbon Mineral Challenge is a citizen science project dedicated to accelerating the discovery of carbon-bearing minerals. The program launched in 2015 December with sponsorship from the Deep Carbon Observatory. The project ended in 2019 September, with 31 new carbon-bearing minerals found from 27 locations.
== Background ==
Mineralogist Robert Hazen and his colleagues pioneered the concept of mineral evolution to explain how life and geology have intertwined throughout Earth's multi-billion year past. As part of that research, the group developed a model that combines the locations and distributions of known minerals to predict the number of unknown carbon minerals on Earth. The method is similar to statistical methods used in biology. Hazen and his group predicted that 145 carbon minerals remain undiscovered on Earth.
A paper supporting the research, "Carbon Mineral Ecology", was published by American Mineralogist in 2015, and the Carbon Mineral Challenge was announced in 2015 at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in San Francisco. Geochemist Daniel Hummer (Southern Illinois University) is the project lead.
Carbon is the focus of the project due to the element's importance to life on Earth and how little is known about it.
== Research Method ==
The research behind the Carbon Mineral Challenge is based on a type of analysis called large number of rare events (LNRE) modeling. To arrive at their total of 145 previously undescribed carbon minerals, Hazen and his colleagues, including mathematician Grethe Hystad of Purdue University-Calumet, focused on diversity-distribution relationships of the 403 known carbon-bearing minerals. Using 82,922 pieces of data about mineral species and localities, tabulated in mindat.org (as of 1 January 2015), the researchers found that all carbon-bearing minerals, as well as subsets containing carbon with hydrogen, calcium, sodium, or oxygen, conform to LNRE distributions. This method of analysis is often used in microbiology to estimate new species.
Hazen likens this method of modeling to reading a book. "Some words you read over and over throughout, such as 'and' and 'the.' These common words are everywhere and easy to spot," says Hazen. "On the other hand, there are words that may appear only one or two times in an entire book. Earth's missing minerals are like these rare words; we haven't found them yet because they formed only in very few places and in very small quantities."
The researchers note that 145 is a minimum estimate of undiscovered carbon-bearing minerals for two reasons. First, the calculation is based on the assumption that minerals will continue to be discovered using exactly the same procedures. However, new techniques and emerging technology are expected to boost the rate of discovery. Second, the data from mindat.org underreports the numbers of rarest minerals found at exactly one or two localities; a bias that results in lower estimates of undiscovered minerals.
Hazen and his colleagues continue to explore big-data mineralogy in a project called "The Co-Evolution of the Geo- and Biospheres: An Integrated Program for Data-Driven, Abductive Discovery in the Earth Sciences".
== How the Project Works ==
To register a new carbon mineral with the project, mineralogists are asked to adhere to the protocol outlined by the International Mineralogical Association Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification. Once a carbon mineral is approved by that body, the team responsible for the mineral's discovery submits their finding via a form on the project's website. As of December 2015 there were 405 known and catalogued carbon minerals.
The project focuses both on new discoveries in the field and analyses of samples already in storage in museums and other institutions. Thirty-one new carbon minerals have been described since the project's launch. While two minerals, abellaite and parisite-(La), have chemistry that was predicted by the research team, there have been some unexpected finds, including the mineral leószilárdite, a uranyl carbonate, and tinnunculite which is an organic mineral.
The mineral analysis by Hazen and his colleagues provides some clues about promising locations to look for new carbon minerals and predicts their chemical makeup
== List of new minerals found ==
The following new minerals were found by the project:
Abellaite
Akopovaite
Alterite
Aravaite
Braunerite
Davidbrownite-(NH4)
Edscottite
Ewingite
Fiemmeite
Lazaraskeite
Léoszilárdite
Marchettiite
Markeyite
Marklite
Metauroxite
Meyrowitzite
Middlebackite
Natromarkeyite
Paddlewheelite
Parisite-(La)
Phoxite
Pseudomarkeyite
Ramazzoite
Roymillerite
Šlikite
Somersetite
Stracherite
Tinnunculite
Triazolite
Uroxite
Wampenite
== See also ==
Abiogenesis – Life arising from non-living matter
Amateur geology – Non-professional study and collecting of rocks and minerals
International Mineralogical Association – Scientific organization promoting mineralogy
List of minerals recognized by the International Mineralogical Association
Mineral collecting – Hobby of systematically collecting, identifying and displaying mineral specimens
Mineral ecology – Chemical elements essential for life
== References ==
== External links ==
Official website

33
data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronolog-0.md Normal file
View File

@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
---
title: "Chronolog"
chunk: 1/1
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronolog"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:13:48.364473+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---
Chronolog is a citizen science environmental monitoring platform that enables public participation in time-lapse photography projects. It is used by parks, nature centers, wildlife organizations, schools, and museums to document ecological changes over time. Visitors to participating locations take photos at designated stations and submit them via email, contributing to crowdsourced time-lapse sequences. As of 2024, Chronolog operates in 48 U.S. states and 10 countries and has collected over 100,000 submissions since its launch in 2017.
== History ==
Chronolog was founded in 2017 by Jake Rose and Ky Wildermuth. The platform began with a small number of photo stations in state parks in Maryland, United States. Since then, it has expanded to include sites across the United States and internationally. Chronolog has been adopted by national organizations in the United States such as the National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management.
== Technology ==
Participating organizations–like state and national parks, wildlife preserves, museums, schools, local and state governments, nature conservancies, and wildlife nonprofits–install fixed photo stations at specific locations, typically overlooking landscapes of ecological interest. These stations guide visitors to align their smartphone cameras at a consistent height and angle. Users then email the photos to Chronolog, where software extracts metadata and assigns the image to a corresponding time-lapse sequence.
Each contributor receives an automated response with information about the site and the ecological changes being monitored. The aggregated photos form visual records that help track changes in vegetation, wildlife activity, water levels, and other environmental features.
Long-term ecological monitoring projects often face challenges related to cost, staffing, and continuity. Chronolog's crowdsourced model has been adopted as a low-cost method to collect consistent visual data over time at participating sites.
== Applications ==
Chronolog is used by land stewards, restoration practitioners, and environmental educators to document ecological trends, track ecosystem health, measure the impact of conservation interventions, and engage the public in science education. Chronolog has been used to monitor habitat restoration, controlled burns, removal of invasive species, planting of native species, ghost forests, wildlife activity, and climate resilience efforts. Chronolog has also been used to monitor events such as wildfire recovery, water levels and quality, snowpack, seasonal changes, and storm impacts.
== References ==
== External links ==
Official website

37
data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lin_Chambers-0.md Normal file
View File

@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
---
title: "Lin Chambers"
chunk: 1/1
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lin_Chambers"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:13:45.681865+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---
Lin Chambers (née Hartung) is an American physical scientist. She has developed and contributed to multiple international programs around science education and citizen science at NASA Langley Research Center.
== Early life and education ==
Chambers is an alumna of East Lansing High School; her grandfather is the chemist Walter Henry Hartung. She obtained bachelor's and master's degrees in aeronautical engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1985. She began working with the NASA Langley Research Center as an undergraduate student at RPI in 1983 through the NASA co-op program before permanently moving to Hampton, Virginia.
She participated in the International Space University Summer Session in 1989 in Strasbourg, France.
Chambers received her PhD in aerospace engineering at North Carolina State University in 1991. Her dissertation, advised by Fred DeJarnette, was the creation of a model to predict "radiation absorption and emission coefficients in thermochemical nonequilibrium flows."
== Career ==
Per her training, Chambers began at NASA as an aerospace engineer. Her work focused on atmospheric entry of spacecraft.
Starting in the mid-1990s, she adapted her expertise in radiative transfer to atmospheric science. This included working on the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) project to study the effect of clouds on the Earth's energy budget, and the CALIPSO satellite mission to detect clouds and aerosols from space.
In 1997, she founded the Student Cloud Observation Online (S'COOL) project, a citizen science initiative which engages young students in scientific observations of local cloud patterns, collecting that data for validation of measurements by the CERES satellite. As of 2016, the S’COOL project had received more than 144,500 cloud observations from students in 77 countries, including multiple observations from ocean basins taken onboard transoceanic ships. In March 2017, the project was merged with the GLOBE Program.
In 2004, Chambers helped to start the MY NASA DATA project, with the intention of making earth science datasets accessible to K-12 teachers, students, and amateur scientists.
From 2016 to 2018 she served as the interim program manager of the GLOBE Program at NASA Headquarters.
As of 2020, Chambers has authored over 150 publications in aerospace engineering, atmospheric science, and science education.
== Honors and awards ==
1999 NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal
2009 NASA Exceptional Service Medal
2014 North Carolina State University Alumni Hall of Fame
2015 American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow for her contributions to science education
2024 American Geophysical Union Excellence in Earth and Space Science Education Award
== References ==

14
data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Burn_(naturalist)-0.md Normal file
View File

@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
---
title: "Robert Burn (naturalist)"
chunk: 1/1
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Burn_(naturalist)"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:13:41.759510+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---
Robert Burn (born 1937) is an Australian naturalist and citizen scientist. He has described approximately 100 species of nudibranchs and has co-authored around 100 papers published in scientific journals spanning sixty years. He is the leading living discoverer of nudibranch species in Victoria, Australia. His first solo publication, Nudibranchs and related molluscs, was published in February 2016 by Museums Victoria where Bob Burn is Honorary Associate. The nudibranch genus Burnaia is named in his honor.
== References ==