For those of you who know me, you know that I am borderline obsessed with Apple products. With all of these devices comes apps – and tons of them. While a lot of them are social media and news, a good chunk of them are science, climate change and exploration based.
One of my favorites is NASA‘s “Images of Change” iPad app which give an interactive before and after view of the world through the lens of climate change. You can view the app listing and download it here.
The World Bank’s “Climate Change Data Finder 2.5” provides maps and global data on climate change indicators, for those who want a more data-driven look at climate change.
Also from NASA is the “NASA” app, which holds content from missions, news articles, images and videos. Another is the “NASA Visualization Explorer“, which showcases images and videos from NASA space-based research. Lastly, another app is “Earth-Now,” complete with global climate data and maps. These are all free, so take advantage of them on your iPad especially, where you can view the content on a larger screen.
If you want to get into the space world, there are a plethora out there for you, including “Astro App” (exploring the moon, Mars, the night sky [free]), “Planets” (3D guide to the solar system [free]), “Planet Earth 3D” (Earth in 3D [$1.99]), and “Solar System Stimulation” (interactive planets [$1.99]).
Another of my favorite apps is Google’s “Field Trip” app, which shows the user around your current location or a location for which you search! There are plenty of history “cards” (as they are called in the app) around the University of Montana, which are mostly historical photos with a description. Since I am going to San Francisco next week, I poked around the city – and there must be hundreds of field trip cards!
Along the same lines is the National Geographic “City Guides” app, which provides a food and drink, photo, and walk guide, along with other categories, to specific cities around the globe like London, New York, Paris and Rome, to name a few. This app, along with Google’s “Field Trip” app, is free!
Lastly, I can’t leave an apps post without talking about the “WWF Together” app, which won a 2013 Apple Design Award. The origami animals in the app open into a story about each animal, complete with information on living habits, conservation efforts and many more.
Of course, there are many more science apps available on the iTunes App Store, so search “science” and check them out!
Abbey Dufoe 