Posts tagged with health

Online gamers have used a game called FoldIt to help decipher "the structure of an enzyme of an AIDS-like virus," helping scientists to develop "new insights for the design of antiretroviral drugs. "While the enzyme had "thwarted scientists for a decade," the entire process took the online gamers only about 3 weeks to crack.

University of Michigan psychology professor Susanne M. Jaeggi was quoted today in an L.A. Times article about research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that explored the possibility of certain video games improving the reasoning and working memory ability of children who play them.

A semi-regular round-up of interesting video game links from around the Interwebs.

A study involving the connection between physical activity and sports-related video games has been completed by the International Sports Marketing department at the Ecole Superieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales, who came to the conclusion that there is a correlation between the level of physical activity and sports games due to the fact that sports games tend to inspire people under the age of 21 to pursue the same sports in real life.

From the July 2009 issue of Scientific American: “A pernicious excitement to learn and play [this game] has spread all over the country, and numerous clubs for practicing this game have been formed in cities and villages. Why should we regret this? It may be asked. We answer, [this game] is a mere amusement of a very inferior character, which robs the mind of valuable time that might be devoted to nobler acquirements, while it affords no benefit whatever to the body..."