Studying the final frontier of space got a little bit easier this month. On May 5th, a group of scientists launched an online simulator that allows users to explore our galaxy in incredibly accurate detail in a span of billions years. But what’s the most innovative part of this new project? Anyone can use it whether you’re getting your doctorate in astrophysics or you’re just a curious websurfer.This project and many others are part of a movement to make scientific research and data open to use and scrutinize by scientists and the general public alike. This movement, called Open Science, attempts to “open” the traditionally restrictive ways in which scientific research is both conducted and shared.
Dr. Ian Dworkin from MSU’s Department of Zoology speaks about Open Science and how it works. An associate professor at MSU, he participated in a panel last fall about Open Science and has shared his views regarding the movement openly in his blog.
Dworkin describes the movement as trying to make all aspects of scientific research open to everybody.