Researchers, professors, physicists and doctors have been having a bash at gaming lately, but not in the usual ways. The world’s first PhD in video gaming addiction recently emerged and researchers in Illinois, USA, have devised a way to figure out just how much of a noob some people really are.
The latest scientist to try crack into the lucrative gaming market is Stanford University physicist Ingmar Riedel-Kruse. He and his research partners have developed ‘video games’ based on their ability to influence in real-time the behaviour of microorganisms – dubbed ‘biotic games.’
Single-celled organisms such as the humble paramecia are inserted into a fluid chamber in which they can move freely. A camera tracks the movement of the paramecia, and the game board is superimposed over that image. A microprocessor interprets the movements within the rules of the game, and also keeps score.
The paramecia are manipulated by applying electrical currents or introducing chemicals. Players input commands using what looks like a typical video game controller.
“We tried to mimic some classic video games,” explains Riedel-Kruse. In PAC-mecium for example, changes in the polarity of an electrical field influences which direction the paramecia swims. In Biotic Pinball, chemicals injected into the fluid chamber attract the organism in one direction or another. CiliaBall is named for the cilia hairs that the paramecia use to move around. By manipulating their movements, the paramecia can kick around a virtual soccer ball.
In PolymerRace, players are linked to the output of a DNA replicating machine, and they can bet on the outcome. “The game PolymerRace is inspired by horse races, where you have different jockeys riding different horses. There is a little bit of bio-molecular logic involved and a little bit of chance,” explained Riedel-Kruse.
In yet another example, players must interpret olfactory stimuli (smells) to distinguish between different colonies of yeast. “The idea is that while we as humans play the game, we interact with real biological processes or material,” said Riedel-Kruse.
Of course, it’s not all about fun and games and there are educational hopes for the biotic games. Riedel-Kruse hopes that the games will enliven the field of micro-biology among children and adults and encourage them to learn more about the processes at play. “We hope that by playing games involving biology of a scale too small to see with the naked eye, people will realize how amazing these processes are and they’ll get curious and want to know more.”
“We would argue that modern biotechnology will influence our life at an accelerating pace, most prominently in the personal biomedical choices that we will be faced with more and more often. Therefore everyone should have sufficient knowledge about the basics of biomedicine and biotechnology. Biotic games could promote that,” he continued.
Riedel-Kruse also envisions the general public lending a hand with experiments through the attraction of the biotic games. “That is something to figure out for the future, what are good research problems which a lay person could really be involved in and make substantial contributions.” he concluded.
Video gaming enters the realm of microbiology << Comments and views
Source: Stanford University News; Lab On Chip
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