We know our members could use some cool STEM projects to do with their patrons and students as we get toward the end of this tough semester. We are celebrating Citizen Science Month, and enjoying all sorts of STEM projects from the website SciStarter: Science We Can Do Together.

This week’s project is entirely online, so could be accessible for your in-person as well as your online community members. Best of all, it’s pretty easy: You just play a game!

“Stall Catchers is an online game that anyone can play – no experience necessary. In the game, you look at movies from the brains of mice and try to identify vessels as flowing or stalled. This helps to speed up Alzheimer’s disease research at Cornell University.

Stall Catchers is part of the EyesOnALZ project. The game was built on one of the oldest volunteer thinking projects: stardust@home, and is using the Virtual Microscope developed by their team. Who knew stardust and blood vessels could be so similar?

Currently, our catchers range from 6 to 88 years old. A large part of our community includes middle school students, seniors, caregivers and Alzheimer’s patients themselves.

The game is easy to grasp, and we walk you through in the beginning. Check out the ‘How to’ section in the main menu if you need help at any time. Don’t worry about making mistakes – each blood vessel is analysed by multiple catchers, and we ensure we generate reliable crowd answers in the end.”

Here is all the info on how to get started! Download the app game wherever you download your apps.

Take a few minutes to play this game, or build this into a larger lesson on STEM, on biology, or on aging.