Paying Forward with Kickstarter and Petridish

Are you familiar with Kickstarter? It's a crowdfunding site for various creative projects. There's also an analogue site for funding science projects; that one is Petridish. Today I'd like to share with you some of the projects I'm backing on both sites. Some of the projects are getting close to their deadlines. If you'd like to back these projects (or others that appeal to you), that would be wonderful, but of course it's up to you.

Feminist Speculative Fiction Anthology

This anthology will include works from the 1970s onward. I found out about it through BroadUniverse. There are 35 days left to fund this project.

THE WARLOCK'S CURSE: #3 in the Veneficas Americana series
 
With less than twenty days left for funding, this project will allow a Nebula-nominated author to continue her series.


Miles to Go/Promises to Keep: a Cosa Nostradamus Project

I've been reading this author since she spoke at my local library a few years ago. Her other works in this world have been traditionally published, but she wants to tell the story of one of the secondary characters. There are less than ten days left to fund this project.


Here are the two science projects I'm backing on Petridish. Both of them involve genetics, which is what drew me to them.

Tracking ancient dog populations in Africa

Village dogs in Africa are intermediate between wild canines and domesticated ones. Studying their genes will not only tell us more about the history of dogs but could also lead to the discovery of genes that affect human and canine health. There's less than a month left to fund this project.

Using Ancient DNA to Reconstruct Avian Extinctions

This project will look at DNA from museum specimens of extinct birds (including the passenger pigeon and the ivory-billed woodpecker, as well as two other species) to determine exactly when these populations began to decline and if habitat loss played a role in their extinctions. It costs $2,000 to sample enough birds to analyze one species. They are asking for $2,000, but they need $8,000 to study all four species listed in the project description. There are less than two months left to fund this project.

Have you backed a crowdfunded project--or started one yourself? Please share your experiences with us.