1. Phylo: Become a Genetic Scientist!
Back in the year 2000, Bill Clinton and Tony Blair announced that the human genome project had been successful in sequenced the 3 billion letters that make up the human DNA code. Amidst a lot of fanfare, the media went crazy: Scientists and journalists clammored over each other to wax lyrically of this great achievement. It was unanimously heralded as the dawn of a new age in science and medicine. But ten years down the line, reality has proved more somewhat more sobering: Recording the entire DNA sequence of man is one thing, but understanding what it means is quite another! Likely early archaeologists discovering Egyptian hieroglyphics, we can but scratch our heads and stare at the miles of A, G, C and Ts that make up the human genetic code!
‘Cracking’ the genetic code has become a huge undertaking. One technique genetics researchers have been using is to compare sections of human DNA with that of other animals – hunting for clues about certain genetic disorders. Clever folk at McGill University have distilled this tedious task into an abstract colour matching game called Phylo.
Is it any good? Far from being a monotonous process, players can choose to play the puzzle game against each other or the computer in a race against time. The rules are simple: To slide rows of coloured blocks horizontally and try to line up as many vertical lines of the same colour as possible. It starts out easy but the difficulty quickly ramps up as more and more rows are added; and it all makes for a rather engaging and somewhat addictive aversion – which is ideal for that afternoon teabreak! Phylo: Slide coloured blocks around to try to get the most colours lined up… simple but oddly addictive!
Playability: 9/10 – The science stuff is kept completely hidden away and it’s all about just moving coloured blocks. It’s so easy that your Gran could probably play it!
Fun Factor: 9/10 – Polished presentation and jazzy music. It’s pretty easy to pick up and put down.
Value to Humanity: 7/10 – Individual players aren’t likely to make any major breakthroughs, but each completed game adds an extra piece to the huge jigsaw of human genetic disease.
Good For: Sudoku gurus, Fans of colour-matching games like Bejeweled and Puzzle players with a short attention span.
Click Here to play Phylo online!
This article was originally written by Stuart Farrimond for realdoctorstu.com
https://realdoctorstu.com/2011/02/15/earn-a-nobel-prize-in-your-lunch-break-the-best-citizen-science-games-reviewed/
