A newsletter for professionals who create or use game-based learning or simulations to improve training and education. We cover news and products for the whole industry, including military/govt, corporate, nonprofit, healthcare, higher ed and K12.
Borderlands Science is a tile-matching puzzle game hidden in the popular video game, Borderlands 3. The virtual arcade game lets players contribute to microbiome research. (Credit: Gearbox Software 2020)
How Playing Science Games is Advancing Genetic Research
By playing citizen science games like Phylo, Colony B and Borderlands Science, people can join scientific research projects by completing simple activities in their free time.
In today’s world, computers both big and small produce vast volumes of data in record time — millions of trillions of bytes worth. It’s so much information that researchers can’t properly analyze all the data produced, and the overload can also lead computers to make mistakes. That’s why researchers are increasingly turning to citizen scientists — members of the public who are willing to volunteer — to help them make sense of data when computers can’t.Through citizen science, researchers engage the public in gathering and analyzing scientific data. By gamifying their projects, scientists can keep volunteers engaged and having fun as they work.Borderlands Science lets people contribute to research on the human gut microbiome by solving puzzles. (Credit: Gearbox and Borderlands)
