The Nobel Prizes have been in the news this week. I didn’t win one. Once upon a time the Nobel Prize website was a creaky old thing, but it’s been smartened up recently, and one of the best new features is the education section which has a range of interactive learning games of varying degrees of difficulty. The Medicine Prize Related games are particularly good – give them a try.
Related:
Phage Wars 2 is a fast paced, strategy game built around genetically modifying viruses. Your goal is to create the most powerful virus ever by defeating all the other genetically engineered viruses in.
Have fun!
Pandemic II is a free online game where you play the part of a virus, bacterium, or parasite. The goal of the game is to infect and then kill all of humanity. Each microorganism in the game has its own characteristics, such being more or less virulent, and mutating slowly or more quickly. The game starts with you infecting a very small number of people in a specific country. You can increase the rate of infection by purchasing symptoms, resistance, and new modes of infection such as airborne and waterborne. You can also slow things down by getting rid of a symptom or resistance. Pandemic 2 ends when either you win by wiping humankind off of the face of the planet, or the humans successfully develop a vaccine and prevent you from infecting everyone. There are two modes of play, simulation mode and a shorter mode which can be played in about 10 minutes, making it a good for a break between lectures. It’s not terribly accurate in microbiological terms, but it makes a change from Tetris.
Related:
e-Bug is a new online learning tool made up of educational activities for primary and secondary school-age children, complemented by online games, on microbes, hygiene, antibiotic use and vaccines. The programme features age-appropriate animated characters and cartoon microbes; and lesson plans and materials for teachers. Topics include hygiene measures to stop the spread of swine flu and other respiratory infections. The programme also educates children – our future generation of antibiotic users – on the importance of the prudent use of antibiotics. Antibiotics are currently the most common medicines given to children, and increased antibiotic use is linked to increased resistance.
e-Bug is being launched in ten EU countries with some of the highest antibiotic use and largest populations, making up 55% of the EU population. The 10 countries which will be implementing e-Bug are Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, France, Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain. The eight countries which are seeking funding to implement it are Croatia, Lithuania, Latvia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Slovenia and Slovakia. The site will not be formally included in the English school curriculum but an information pack will be sent to all schools as a hard copy resource for teachers.
Related:
The Great Flu is a free online game designed to introduce players to the nature of virus epidemics and means of controlling them. The game offers players the choice of five levels of flu severity (game difficulty), a €2 billion budget and a range of actions of varying effectiveness, such as sending researchers to afflicted areas, distribution of facemasks, stockpiling vaccines and antivirals, and closing schools, airports and public markets. Taking various actions triggers various pieces of supporting material such as mocked-up news coverage and messages from governments or regional authorities, and also provides information on the nature and spread of earlier flu pandemics.
In Sneeze, you are a virus in a human and have the opportunity the spread yourself in various environments by having your human sneeze just once on each level…
Links:
ASM (USA)
ASM (Aus)
FEMS
SfAM
SGM
Internet for Microbiology
Small Things Considered
TWiV
Virology
