Google’s Science Journal app turns your phone into a lab

23 May 2016

If you think you’re the experimental type, then you might like the sound of Google’s new Science Project app on Android, which allows you to conduct science experiments on-the-go using your phone.

The Science Journal app is a logical path for Google, or any other company, to take in expanding the modern smartphone from something that you just use to text and tweet to something much more.

Packed into today’s phones are an array of sensors and cameras that can be tweaked in such a way that they can measure your pulse – by, for example, placing your finger over the camera lens – or be used as a powerful microscope.

Google says on its launch page that Science Journal “allows you to gather data from the world around you.

“It uses sensors to measure your environment, like light and sound, so you can graph your data, record your experiments, and organise your questions and ideas.”

Science Journal app

IoT accessories available, too

So, following this idea, you can make advanced readings about anything in your home or out in the wilds of nature, such as seeing how much light is in one of your rooms compared with another? Or maybe you just want to see how loud your dog’s bark is compared to a cough?

You can then record and note all of the data down in the app, just like a real scientist should, of course.

While Google says that the app is all you need to get started with experiments, it also includes a number of other internet of things (IoT) accessories for science that you could use to make more advanced readings, such as a sensor that can measure soil temperature and acidity.

Despite it being up to you to decide what you want to do with the app, Google has offered a few potential ideas to get your analytical juices flowing, ranging from basic light measurement readings in a room, to designing and building a wind spinner.

Using phone in a field image via Shutterstock

Colm Gorey was a senior journalist with Silicon Republic

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