Last year, the "Name that Neutrino" project was launched, which called on volunteers from the public to help classify signals from neutrinos—tiny, ghostlike particles from outer space—for the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole. The project was hosted on Zooniverse, the largest web-based research platform that invites novices and science enthusiasts alike to contribute to ongoing research through an online experience.
After a successful first launch with 128,000 classifications of IceCube neutrino signals, the findings were reported in a study published in European Physical Journal Plus, in a focus issue on citizen science for physics. The study revealed some agreement between classifications done by users and a machine-learning algorithm, demonstrating the power of citizen science to classify IceCube data. But the work is not yet done.
Starting today, IceCube is once again calling on volunteers to help "Name that Neutrino," now with many improvements and more videos. The project is also available in Spanish, German, Italian, French, and Dutch.
Written by Alisa King-Klemperer, Originally published by IceCube.
Want to get involved? Here’s how:
Click on the link: https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/icecubeobservatory/name-that-neutrino
Click "Get Started" to begin.
Click "Tutorial" to learn about how to classify signals.
Watch the brief video and pick one of the categories for signals.
Check out the "Field Guide" for more examples and information.
Current Name that Neutrino Team
Dr. Christina Love, Dept. of Physics, Drexel University
Emily Taub, Dept. of Physics, Drexel University
Maddie Lee, Dept. of Physics Drexel University
Colin Shaw, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Drexel University
Michael Vukovich, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Drexel University
Gia Amin, Souderton Area High School
Saif Haan, Dept. of Biology, Drexel University
Mackenzie Fusco, Dept. of Biology, Drexel University
Dr. Naoko Kurahashi Neilson, Dept. of Physics, Drexel University
Dr. Alisa King-Klemperer, WIPAC, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Past Team Members
Elizabeth Warrick, Dept. of Physics, Drexel University and The University of Alabama
MS Thesis: Building a Citizen Science Project to Investigate IceCube Data Analysis
Andrew Phillips, Dept. of Physics, Drexel University
BS Senior Research Thesis: Creating a Modified Truth Labeling Scheme for Simulated IceCube Events
Alexandros Pratsos, University of Toronto
Dr. Jim Madsen, University of Wisconsin-Madison
A Special Thank You to Our Translators:
Juanan Aguilar, WIPAC, Spanish
Oliver Janik, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, German
Else Magnus, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Dutch
Sarah Mancina, Università di Padova, Italian
Louis Verhaeghe, Zooniverse Translator, & Else Magnus, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, French