What if video games could help scientists research genes and diseases? The video game industry has continued to grow over the past decade. Although many consider them simple entertainment, citizen science has taken it a step further. They can dive into genomics, for example, the discipline that has revolutionized medicine since the early 2000s, when the human genome was sequenced […] … learn more→
Blog Archives
Video games for the advancement of biomedicine
The stars are not where we see them
When we contemplate the beauty of the night sky, we are not aware that these bright stars are not actually in those positions. Due to a physical phenomenon related to the propagation of light, what we observe are virtual positions, displaced with respect to their real locations in the universe. Knowing the precise location of celestial objects […] … learn more→
Simple technologies that allow robots to be built and programmed in class
In the summer, most teachers take advantage of the opportunity to rest from the hustle and bustle of the academic year. However, many others spend part of their holidays refreshing their knowledge and adapting to new ways of teaching. But when it comes to innovation, not everything goes. Educational innovation is not just about using […] … learn more→
Summer holiday science: turn your home into a lab with these three easy experiments
Many people think science is difficult and needs special equipment, but that’s not true. Science can be explored at home using everyday materials. Everyone, especially children, naturally ask questions about the world around them, and science offers a structured way to find answers. Misconceptions about the difficulty of science often stem from a lack of […] … learn more→
Multiple goals, multiple solutions, plenty of second-guessing and revising − here’s how science really works
A man in a lab coat bends under a dim light, his strained eyes riveted onto a microscope. He’s powered only by caffeine and anticipation. This solitary scientist will stay on task until he unveils the truth about the cause of the dangerous disease quickly spreading through his vulnerable city. Time is short, the stakes […] … learn more→
Astronomy ‘Olympics’ is being hosted in Africa for the first time: 4 big talking points
Cutting-edge telescopes, gravitational waves, black holes and our solar system’s central star, the Sun, are just a few of the topics that will be on the table in Cape Town, South Africa, for an event that’s a scientific version of the Olympic Games – though the world’s leading astronomy researchers in attendance will be showcasing […] … learn more→
CAPTCHAs: The struggle to tell real humans from fake
CAPTCHAs are those now ubiquitous challenges you encounter to prove that you’re a human and not a bot when you go to log in to many websites. Websites and mobile apps have long been attacked by bots on a massive scale. Those malicious bots are programmed to automatically consume a large amount of computing resources, post spam messages, […] … learn more→
New evidence suggests the Universe may be twice as old as we thought
A spectacular image from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) of the deep Universe, the closest view yet of its origins in the Big Bang, shows a much higher density of galaxies than expected. Such a cluster of galaxies at the origins of the Universe is theoretically impossible unless we assume that the formation and […] … learn more→
What does mathematics really say about reality?
“This immense book that always stands open before our eyes, I mean the Universe […] is written in the language of mathematics ,” wrote Galileo, the founding figure of modern science. The aim of this article is to question this tenacious presupposition in science, according to which the notions of reality, language and truth maintain robust and […] … learn more→
Could people turn Mars into another Earth? Here’s what it would take to transform its barren landscape into a life-friendly world
When I was in middle school, my biology teacher showed our class the sci-fi movie “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.” The plot drew me in, with its depiction of the “Genesis Project” – a new technology that transformed a dead alien world into one brimming with life. After watching the movie, my teacher […] … learn more→