PetriDish: Crowdfunding for Science Projects

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

I was thrilled to discover this article about PetriDish, a new crowdfunding hub site specializing in science projects. It's currently in beta with a handful of projects. Among my favorites are a search for the first exomoon, gelada monkey linguistics, the wolves of Isle Royale, and interviews of climate refugees.

Now you can fund the kind of science YOU want to see done! Which is good, because the government has pretty much dropped the ball and big business isn't interested in picking it up. Grab it and run like hell.

SO. MUCH. LOVE.

Comments

[wordslinger.livejournal.com]

ThankyouThankyouThankyouThankyouThankyou!!!!!!

I'm a scientist, and I have a lot of little projects that I want to do. You've just given me the key to fund them.

Never thought of that.

THANK YOU!!

You're welcome!

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

I feel much the same way, although I'm more likely to provide support than to launch a science project of my own. But I wouldn't hesitate to try it if I had the right idea and a good frame for an experiment.

What really excites me about this hub site is the way it could spread science to the masses, get people interested in it, and remove the bottleneck of government and institutional funding that has stifled research in a lot of areas. Crowdfunding could make it possible to pursue research in many more areas, and put funds within reach of many more scientists. We need that.