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Sea Hero Quest is a highly polished mobile game that aims to help researchers gather data to fight the onset of dementia by testing people’s sense of direction and spatial awareness. We talk through how the developers and researchers have managed to bring big data to the table while maintaining an enjoyable experience for gamers […]

We’ll be parting the veil as we immerse ourselves in Alternate Reality games and the effects that they can have on us as gamers in our everyday lives.

This episode we explore simulations, an incredibly important scientific tool to explore answers to questions that may be dangerous, fiddly, or expensive to perform. Since games often pride themselves on being ultra-realistic, we take a look at where games have led to some interesting discoveries or behaviours through their sim success.

Modern games have often made a point of pride in how well they can simulate environments. With climate science an increasing focus in our changing world, how are games encouraging players to engage in their world rather than taking it for granted? And what happens when researchers turn to games to simulate ecosystem outcomes?

Think of a scientist, and what do you see? Are they an older person, male, with a white lab coat and frizzy hair? If so, you might be a game developer. Scientists have often suffered from the same narrow stereotyping that so often afflicts races, occupations, and entire cultures within games. In this episode we […]

Digital goods and virtual currency, but very real profits. Mobile gaming has lead a data-driven approach to figuring out exactly how to hook players into spending money. We look at some of the methods used to keep your eyes on the screen.

Virtual reality (VR) offers a lot: immersion, unrivalled interaction, and the promise of endless vistas to explore and enjoy. But could it also offer the cure for what ails you? We talk through some extremely surprising (and uplifting) medicinal applications for VR.

Egg boxes and lasers and qubits, oh my! We talk about quantum mechanics and the basis of design of citizen science quantum computer simulator, Quantum Moves. Included in the discussion are the places where humans do well versus computers, failing forward, and the meta game of studying how we learn.

Newton’s Laws have been a source of frustration and head-scratching for high school kids (and their teachers) for generations. But video games can help! In our inaugural episode, we look at how games such as Osmos and Kerbal Space Program help us explain and more fully understand exactly how the world works according to Newton

'Don't feed the trolls' is often seen around the internet. What is a troll? What is trolling? What's the difference between a kudos troll and a flame troll? What do they eat and what should/shouldn't we feed them? Join us as we chat to Dr Evita March to try and answer some of these questions.