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#CrowdCloudLIVE After each episode's WORLD premiere in April, show host, producer, and people seen on the show participated in post-premiere roundtable discussions. Viewers like you listened in, asked questions, and were able to dive deeper into the power of Citizen Science.

Watch the recorded Facebook Live events now. Discover more about how Citizen Science is revolutionizing the ways we gather, analyze, and utilize the data that fuels scientific research, discovery, and community action.

Find your local station and showtimes here, or go to:
Aptonline.org

Mosquitoes

In Episode 3, The Crowd & The Cloud compares mosquito outbreaks in Europe and the USA, and learns how citizens are biting back. Scroll down to learn more about the people and projects featured in this segment.

Mosquito Alert
FEATURED PROJECT
GOAL:

Study and control mosquitoes through a citizen science platform.

Mosquitoes are annoying at best, but did you know that they also hitchhike in your car without even chipping in for fuel? Citizen science through the Mosquito Alert app has led to the discovery that the distribution of mosquitoes rapidly expands aided by human transportation in our vehicles. Originating in Spain, Mosquito Alert is a platform aimed at uniting community members with scientists and city managers in the fight against mosquito-borne diseases. As shown on Episode 3 of THE CROWD & THE CLOUD, it’s easy for anyone and everyone to participate, simply by reporting possible findings of tiger mosquitoes (Aedes albopictus). You can also report their breeding sites, such as standing water in a fountain or a pile of trash. The photo that you report, with its GPS coordinates, is sent to a team of experts which verify the species and classify the image before making it public on a world map. This information is then used by scientists studying the distribution of mosquitoes and, in Barcelona, by public health authorities to guide eradication efforts.

Since 2016, Mosquito Alert data has also been used to detect the arrival of the yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti), a close relative of the tiger mosquito and responsible for the most recent Zika virus epidemic. These two species of mosquito can transmit diseases such as dengue fever, chikungunya, and Zika. Highly adaptable (as well as highly annoying!), these mosquitoes are found in both urban and rural settings, indoors and outdoors. Your contribution will be added to a growing database used for research, monitoring, and control of the tiger mosquito and the yellow fever mosquito.

http://www.mosquitoalert.com/en/

Additional Resources

Barcelona’s Office of Citizen Science:

Home to projects like Mosquito Alert, Barcelona’s Office of Citizen science seeks to engage community participation in scientific endeavors.

http://www.barcelonalab.cat/ca/oficines-dinnovacio/cciutadana/

Peter Hotez: Zika is Coming

Peter Hotez on the Zika outbreak in America, in the New York Times.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/09/opinion/zika-is-coming.html?_r=0

Peter Hotez: Tropical Diseases: The New Plague of Poverty

Peter Hotez on how tropical diseases often plague the impoverished - even in America.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/19/opinion/sunday/tropical-diseases-the-n...

Francesca Bria: Cities and Digital Innovation:

Francesca Bria on how technology is being used to help facilitate direct democracy and citizen engagement.

https://vimeo.com/165345391

Science Friday: UPDATE on the search for a Zika vaccine.

The CDC is actively monitoring two clusters of the virus in Florida. Government officials expect that Zika will eventually spread.

https://www.pri.org/stories/us-officials-are-rushing-develop-zika-vaccin...