Tag Archives: Citizen Science

EyeWire

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EyeWire is a game created to help map the brain. It is being led by scientists in the Seung Lab at MIT. It is a game that anyone can play, regardless of whether they have a scientific background or not, and people from about 145 different countries are currently involved with this Citizen Science project. The game aims to map the 3D structure of Neurons, further increasing the understanding that we have of the human brain.

Researchers at the Sebastian Seung Computational Neuroscience Lab at MIT are very aware that the human brain contains about 100 million neurons. They also know that neuroscientists aren’t sure how many different types of cells there are in the brain. The scientists believe that this is a problem that leaves us with the lack of fully being able to comprehend how cells in the brain communicate with one another and create our thought processes. So, the scientists at MIT decided to turn to crowd-sourcing in an effort to get people involved and to increase our knowledge of the mind .

The game uses a combination of algorithms, that are run by Artificial Intelligence, and tracing, that is done by people, to create an image of cells. The scientists at MIT say that they don’t just use algorithms because tracing neurons is hard for both humans and computers. Neuron branches don’t follow a certain structure. As the branches grow outward, they can get narrower or wider. The people behind EyeWire believe that one day computers will be able to map the neurons in our brains all by themselves, but that day is not close enough and we can’t just sit around until that day comes. There is a need now to explore the connectome, also known as all the connections of the human mind. The focus of EyeWire currently is on the retina, which is involved in motion processing and our vision.
In order to participate in this Citizen Science project I had to create an account. They only ask that each individual pick a username, a password and provide an e-mail. Then once my account was set up, the website guided me through a tutorial. The tutorial consisted of 5 different cells and showed me how the game worked. On the left side of my monitor, there was a 3-D cube that showed me where the branch of the neuron was. The cube is there to show me or anyone playing the game, the progress that is being made. What I understood from the tutorial, is that I am trying to get the branch of the neuron from one side of the box to the other. On the right side of my monitor, there is this gray screen. On this screen I am supposed to color parts to create the branch of the neuron that is present on the left side of my monitor. If I feel that I have messed up anywhere in the process, I can press the control key and right-click with my mouse and the part I just colored will be erased. I am providing a picture of what my screen looked like because I feel like that helps create a better visual of what my screen looks like during the game.

image-cell-reconstruction  (The red dot on the green cell is the part of the neuron branch that someone playing the game would be trying to construct.)

Since the game involves no previous knowledge of neuroscience, I know I don’t have any, scientists, engineers and the artificial intelligence of the computer are constantly checking the progress that each person is making. The scientists involved with this game are also checking the progress that each individual makes in order for them to understand more about how the retina functions. Engineers are also interested because they can take a look at the calculations that go into mapping the brain, which could bring us one step closer to creating a computer that can map the brain all by itself.

I started playing this game in late October and I can say that I see its significance. I think that sometimes people feel like they can’t contribute to ground breaking research because they don’t have the skills, but games like these show that’s not the case. I like that the people behind the game really encourage you. They have competitions regularly Friday from 2 to 4 pm, they have “happy hour.” Some of the prizes for winning a competition include the ability to level up and the possibility of naming a neuron. The researchers behind the game also want to make sure that the people in its community is being active. When I was absent from the game for about a week they emailed me with an option to join an online course on the neuroscience of vision with Sebastian Seung himself. The website also has a chat box where you can talk to other people playing the game. I have encountered pretty friendly people the times I have been on to play the game. Some people were asking for mentors who knew more about the game to help them and others were talking to each other about ways to possibly fix the program to make it more accurate. I think it was great to see people working together for a common cause. The developers of this project are doing a good job of creating a community that is friendly and encouraging. I don’t feel afraid to mess up on the website because I know there will be people there willing to explain things to me. Honestly, what’s better than making science fun for everybody?

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I think the concept of EyeWire is very cool and the people behind it obviously care a great deal about it. I know I can go to EyeWire, blast some music and de-stress. What could be a better way to de-stress than to help map a human brain? It’s no watching a sunset on the beach, but it is pretty awesome.

I feel very lucky to have this project be my introduction to Citizen Science. Websites like these are helping more people get involved with science and I think that’s great. I don’t know much about the brain, just that mine must be pretty messed up, but I do know that I like seeing a purpose to the things I am doing. I think Citizen Science helps people outside of the science field see that they can make a difference in science and that science can be fun.

The EyeWire project allows us to map our brains using our brains. Let that blow your mind for a little while. *drops mic*

 

The Website/The Source Of My Writing: https://eyewire.org/login

Linguistics

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Linguistics is a citizen science project developed to “ferret out specific aspects of linguistic meaning that scientist believe are key to understanding the human language. As a participant there are various different categories, or levels. When one first begins, there is only level that one is allowed to play at. When I first began the first level was entitled “Fickle Folk”. Once a person have evaluated enough dialogue at this level said person may then move forward to “Simon says Freeze”. I was also able to participate in “Equilibrium” “A Good World” and “Philosophical Zombie Hunters”

At each level, the participant is given a fun scenario in which they role play as a person of authority meant to determine if a persons actions is punishable by a law put into play in the scenario. My personal favorite scenario to work on was “Equilibrium.” In “Equilibrium” if a person applied force to another person they were going to blow up, if that person used another object to apply force to another person, both the person applying the force and the object would blow up. The person whom the force was applied to would remain unharmed. Robots went around this world recording what was happening; however the robots couldn’t interpret what was going on. The citizen science participant’s job was to read the situation and determine who, and what was going to be blown up. Not every sentence resulted in someone blowing up.

The main importance of all the sentences you are presented with is the verb. Each level has prizes and each participant is ranked on their contribution to the research. My ranking is currently 247 out of the 8357 people who have contributed to this project. When I first began the project, the scientists were already in phase three. However, they only had about 30% of phase three completed. Now the project has completed 93% of their phase three data set. I do consider myself a contribution to this project. The overall goal of this project is to discuss how the structure of language informs our understanding of thought, with the hope that the research will lead to how people learn and think.

The creators have both a blog and a forum to thank and update participants on the information of how they are helping the community and what the research is going towards. On the blog and forum one can see a lot of the work being done with the research. I truly enjoyed this part of the seminar because I had never previously heard of citizen science project. I think its great that as a non-science major I am still able to contribute to the scientific world. I think this is something that everyone should know because the more knowledgeable scientist become the better quality of life can be provided for society.

Play to Cure: Genes in Space

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Technology and medicine have intertwined in an attempt to solve one of the world’s most perplexing diseases that has transcended time and space. In the game “Play to Cure: Genes in Space,” the DNA faults that exist in cancer are manipulated and transformed into a virtual platform to allow nonscientists and players around the world to help find a cure for cancer. Cancer has become a general term that is used to refer to a variety of specific diseases that all stem from a rapid, abnormal, and uncontrollable growth of cells. This modern epidemic affects millions of people across the globe and can be caused by the presence of incorrect sequences in DNA. Typically when a cell is damaged its next step is to eradicate itself from the body. However, in cancer cells, the damaged DNA is replicated and passed onto even more cells that begin to rapidly reproduce and become tumors. These DNA faults that allow for the demise of a cell in addition to actual data from cancer samples worldwide are converted into a digital universe in which the map of the game represents real DNA microarray data.

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The figures above depict the conversion of the DNA microarray data (the collection of microscopic DNA spots scattered throughout a solid surface) into the game’s interface. The gameplay involves setting up a route in the “route mapping section” which allows for players to help consider patterns that relate back to actual DNA faults that could be lying in plain sight.

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The player then enters the realm of space and must avoid asteroids and collect element alpha while simultaneously entering octagon checkpoints throughout the game. These octagonal shaped checkpoints represent the kinks in the route originally created. Element alpha refers to the valuable of tradable item that represents actual cancer data that is analyzed by scientists but is now open to the public.

The purpose of the game is to create a way for millions of cancer samples to be analyzed efficiently and rapidly by opening up the platform to a greater audience than just scientists alone. No player needs to be well read in the division of cancer biology, and yet they can still contribute by playing the game. In essence, the poetic and ingenious underlying goal proposes a new approach to the field of science. The introduction of technology into cancer research has opened up the gates for new eyes to view old projects. Millions of people are affected by cancer and so logically speaking, the millions of samples should have millions of people analyzing them in hopes of finding a cure. Increasing the sample size of those who can provide a contribution eradicates the existing large human error that could stem from the same scientist having to look over thousands of cancer samples for hours on end with only one pair of eyes. I personally love the game and I enjoy playing it in my spare time. I have also told several of my friends and family members about it since beginning the Citizen Science project and the result is spreading the possibility of finding a cure. Overall, the conceptual theory behind the game is quite logical and the gameplay is entertaining while being productive all the while. This game is far from science fiction and yet brings light to the power that lies in combining human research and technology to allow for moving science forward.