Hundreds of thousands of video gamers are right now plugged into one computer game.
But it’s not the latest Call of Duty or Fifa – it’s a science based game called EyeWire in which users map the neurons of a brain.
And information collected from the gamers using the crowdsourcing programme has been used to map neurons in an eye’s retina for the first time.
An online video game known as EyeWire has been used to help map the neurons in the retina of a mouse, which can in turn be applied to that of a human. Outlined in the journal Nature, the study relied on information crowdsourced by thousands of gamers. The popular game has been running since late 2012 and shows how games can be used to help research in various branches of science. In this image, different cells in the retina have been traced in various colours by gamers
The findings were announced in the journal nature by a team including Professor Sebastian Seung of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Professor Seung’s lab at MIT has been running the hugely popular EyeWire game since late 2012, which contributed to the study.
The latest discovery is a huge boon for the game and shows how useful crowdsourcing can be in various branches of science.
In the game, players are given layers of a a retina – in this case one of a mouse – which is similar to a human’s in many ways.
By making a plastic print of a retina, a 3D replication is made on a computer screen.
Gamers are then tasked with individually mapping out the neurons by scrolling up and through the various layers.
In EyeWire, users are given blocks of cells within a retina of a mouse that has been moulded in plastic and scanned into the system. Gamers then intricately study the layers of cells and trace out the paths of neurons. Together, with multiple gamers tackling the same section, an accurate map of the neuron is made and a 3D representation, as seen in this image, can be made. Here in yellow-green is a starburst amacrine cell, while in blue is a single bipolar
Multiple users tackle different parts of the membrane and, to eliminate errors, some map the same cells as others.
As neurons are mapped, gamers gain points, with expert users going keeping an eye on things in case mistakes are made.
The game doesn’t require users to have any background in biology though, allowing anyone to pick up and get involved with the project.
‘You no longer have to have a PhD in neuroscience,’ said Amy Robinson, creative director of EyeWire, told NBC News. ‘You could be a high-school student, or a sculptor, a dental assistant or retiree. All you have to have is now an Internet connection and an interest in gaming.’
Over 120,000 gamers have signed up from 100 countries to play EyeWire.
But to solve this particular retina challenge, a selection of just over 2,000 of the best ‘EyeWirers’ mapped the so-called starburst amacrine cells, which are found in the retina, and they are all listed as co-authors on the paper.
The EyeWire team are now looking at new challenges for their gamers to overcome.
These include taking a look at the connections between smells and emotional responses.
