Playing at Science – Tomas Rawlings

Earlier this month, we looked at the winning game for the Longitude Prize’s search for a game to raise awareness of antibiotic resistance. As a lead up to this, at the beginning of the year, our very own Dr Tomas Rawlings wrote an article for them on the subject of how video games and science can work together.

As Tom is the Design and Production Director of Auroch Digital, and the creator of its initiative GameTheNews, he is often asked to talk or write about his experiences with gaming being used to tackle news topics and how successful this can be.

(Image from http://fold.it/portal/)

In the article, Tom references the case where gamers, through playing the game Fold-It, deciphered the structure of the Mason-Pfizer Monkey virus. This was a problem that had been left unsolved for over 15 years, showing not only that games can be a successful way to increase awareness of a difficult topic, but also by using games to approach a problem from a different angle and different set of eyes, we can begin to solve problems that conventional methods have yet to crack.

Click here to read the full article.

source Game The News http://ift.tt/2akqh6f

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Educational Apps and E-learning – When is it too Much?

There is lots of talk about the benefits of using gaming as a very effective platform for encouraging audiences, particularly young audiences, to engage with serious topics. As this has become more and more popular, the use of games and apps for education is at an all time high. However, we still don’t really know how much is too much for little people to be spending in front of a screen, or what damage that can do.

A recent article on mosaicscience.com discusses this at great length, with the main point being that the growth of tablets, apps for children and technology for under-3s has been so fast, research hasn’t had a hope in keeping up.

There are some suggestions that for children under the age of 3, too much screen time can lead to issues such as ADHD as they become used to fast, vibrant images which don’t reflect real life. Whilst the article touches on problems such as the addictiveness of rapidly triggering the reward pathway in their brains, it seems that the biggest concern amongst professionals is the lack of interaction with other people that children who are exposed to too much screen time will get.

To read the full article click here.

source Game The News http://ift.tt/29SK1Q7

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Superbugs – Can You Defend Humanity Against the Resistance?

The resistance to antibiotics is a big problem, a problem that the Longitude Prize feels is so big that in 2014 they launched a challenge, calling all innovators from around the world, to help them tackle it before 2019. The multi-million pound challenge brings the focus to creating a diagnostic test which reduce the prescription of antibiotics when they are not needed, and therefore slowing down the rate of resistance.

Part of this challenge was a task to create a game which would engage young people and raise their awareness of the issue. In response to this task, games studio, Preloaded, created the award winning game, Superbugs. A game in which the player must fend off the drug resistant bacteria in a colourful petri dish setting.

Experts estimate that by 2050, these drug resistant superbugs could kill up to 10 million people per year. So it is vital that awareness is raised and gaming is becoming an increasingly popular way to engage, particularly young audiences, in serious topics.

 

source Game The News http://ift.tt/29OE6dw

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