Google just released an app which might appeal to budding scientists. It’s called Science Journal, and measures and records data in real-time by using the sensors embedded in Android phones.
The Science Journal app allows you to gather data from the world around you. By using the phone’s sensors, it measures elements in your environment, like light and sound, so you can graph data, record experiments, and organise questions and ideas.
If your main aim is to take over the world, instead of conducting small experiments for your own amusement, this might not be your cup of tea. Its main objective is to get children involved and interested in science, but it can still be fun for the adult who still wants to play.
The app is part of a larger Google initiative called The Making & Science Initiative which believes anyone can be a scientist by observing your everyday life, figuring out how things work and creating projects to improve the world.
Science Journal also allows you to make notes about your experiments and keep a digital journal – just in case you make that breakthrough discovery and forgot how it happened.
It is available as a free download from the Google Play Store and needs a smartphone running on Android 4.4 KitKat to install the 14MB app.