It’s been a while since we’ve posted an installment of Good Stuff, but here goes:

I was in San Diego for a National Geographic Young Explorers Grant workshop a couple of weeks ago, and I got to meet some of my fellow Young Explorers, which is always inspiring. This time, I was teamed up with and surfer / writer / photographer Shannon Switzer, and I think between the three of us, we did a good job showing the audience of UCSD undergrads and grad students that whatever your passions are, National Geographic can be a great organization to work with. One of the coolest things about the weekend was seeing the amazing bioluminescence in the ocean off the coast of San Diego… Here’s a showing the glowing, crashing waves and the glowing wakes of nighttime surfers!

I recently discovered this cool citizen-science project, School of Ants. The project aims to connect people with the nature around them by enlisting their help to identify the ants that live in their neighborhoods. Universities, K-12 schools, and individuals are all welcome to participate, and the creators of the site give you easy instructions on collecting your own ants. The tricky business of identifying the ants is left to the professionals — citizen-scientists send their samples to the project headquarters at North Carolina State University to be counted and classified. They’ve already made some cool discoveries! It’s possible that killing the ants will be upsetting to some participants, but this is the reality of most entomological work. The nice thing about ants is, there’s always “more where that came from!” The site also features amazing ant photos by Alex Wild.

You know Nate and I love discovering new ways that people are making science visual, and this one is a doozie: the latest album Icelandic singer Bjork, Biophilia, is heavily inspired by the living world around us, and has been packaged into an immersive app with unique visualizations and interactivity for each of the 10 tracks on the album. You can read more about it, and watch the “app trailer” (narrated by Sir David Attenborough!) .

Finally, a cool online contest to get people excited about birds: Birding the Net, from the National Audubon Society. Various North American bird species will be “hidden” all over the web, and from October 10 to November 7, anyone can join the competition to see as many species as possible. Hints will be tweeted, and participants can share clues with one another as well. While birds may be virtual, the prizes are real, and include a chance to visit the Galapagos with Lindblad Expeditions. I think this campaign is quite cool, and with any luck it will inspire people to get out into the real outdoors and start enjoying nature!