Play Video Games, Advance Science

Computer gaming is now a regular part of life for many people. Beyond just being entertaining, though, it can be a very useful tool in education and in science.

If people spent just a fraction of their play time solving real-life scientific puzzles – by playing science-based video games – what new knowledge might we uncover? Many games aim to take academic advantage of the countless hours people spend gaming each day. In the field of biochemistry alone, there are several, including the popular game Foldit.

In Foldit, players attempt to figure out the detailed three-dimensional structure of proteins by manipulating a simulated protein displayed on their computer screen. They must observe various constraints based in the real world, such as the order of amino acids and how close to each other their biochemical properties permit them to get. In academic research, these tasks are typically performed by trained experts.

Thousands of people – with and without scientific training – play Foldit regularly. Sure, they’re having fun, but are they really contributing to science in ways experts don’t already? To answer this question – to find out how much we can learn by having nonexperts play scientific games – we recently set up a Foldit competition between gamers, undergraduate students and professional scientists. The amateur gamers did better than the professional scientists managed using their usual software.

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ExoMars Lander's Descent Trajectory Visualized by ESA | Video

On October 19, 2016, the Schiaparelli entry, descent, and landing demonstrator will attempt to touch down on Mars' Meridiani Planum. If all goes according to plan, it should take the module about 6 minutes to land from the time it enters the Martian atmosphere.

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Scientists Accidentally Discover Efficient Process to Turn CO2 Into Ethanol

Scientists at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee have discovered a chemical reaction to turn CO2 into ethanol, potentially creating a new technology to help avert climate change. Their findings were published in the journal ChemistrySelect.

The researchers were attempting to find a series of chemical reactions that could turn CO2 into a useful fuel, when they realized the first step in their process managed to do it all by itself. The reaction turns CO2 into ethanol, which could in turn be used to power generators and vehicles.

The tech involves a new combination of copper and carbon arranged into nanospikes on a silicon surface. The nanotechnology allows the reactions to be very precise, with very few contaminants.

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Is humanity saved?
Will this work?
Can it stop climate change?

Join our group chat to discuss!

Europe's Mars Landing on Wednesday May Be Visible to NASA Rover

Call it the Schiaparelli sky show — and if you happen to be NASA's Opportunity Mars rover, it's coming to a sky near you.

"We will attempt to image Schiaparelli as it arrives in our neck of the woods on Oct. 19," Rice told Inside Outer Space. "But if the entry and descent of the Schiaparelli EDM is nominal, the Opportunity rover will not see anything because its path will be blocked by the topography of the western rim of Endeavour crater," he said.

"However, there is a remote chance we could see it above the crater rim if the descent trajectory is long toward the east," Rice added. "Bottom line is that we will be giving it our best effort and, hopefully, we get lucky."

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(Pictured Below) Approximate region in box where Schiaparelli lander may be visible above horizon by Opportunity if incoming vehicle goes long.

The ESA livestream of the Schiaparelli lander touching down on Mars will start in about 45 minutes

You will be able to watch it on: livestream.com/ESA

@EverythingScience will provide updates as the event unfolds.

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The Schiaparelli lander will land on Mars using a crushable structure instead of legs. The aluminium structure can withstand a deceleration of 40Gs. Here it is being tested.

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The live stream has begun!

Watch here: livestream.com/ESA/marsarrival

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In about 10 minutes ESA should be recieving information from the lander about the descent course down to mars.
Then in about an hour we will recieve data from the lander on the surface after it lands.
Watch here: livestream.com/ESA/marsarrival

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What happens next?

Mission control is currently hunting for a signal from data from the ESA orbiter Mars Express. The craft has already picked up signals of the probe travelling through the atmosphere but it seems to have also lost contact on landing, which does not bode well for the mission.

However, the probe is also designed to make contact with Earth in around one hour, so we might get a direct signal then.

Speaking a few minutes ago Andrea Accomazzo. ESA Spacecraft Operations Manager, said: "Currently we’re not receiving any signal from Mars but this is absolutely normal, the (trace gas orbiter) is flying behind the planet and it is normal.

"It was going extremely well. For the landing part we have been monitoring the signal going down into the atmosphere of mars we lost the signal at the surface stage and we’re still looking at the data."

Britain's David Parker, Director of Human Spaceflight, is also confident that the second part of the mission, a Mars Rover, will still be launched in 2020.

"The next step is the rover mission to explore over the surface of mars and go below the surface for the first time and bring something back," he said.

"We're doing our best to take our science instruments to the planet now but we need full scale laboratories, so bringing materials back and understanding these materials is really important. "

And he is keen to see humans landing on Mars before too long.

"It's got to be on our agenda and we must take one step beyond," he said. "We also need to protect the astronauts, and feed and water and keep them healthy so one of the ideas that space agencies are considering is an idea of space cruiser which can move around and do exploration voyages live and work 1,000 time further out that we are today."

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We are awaiting confirmation that Schiaparelli has landed
Watch here
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We have just recieved data that the Trace Gas Orbiter has completed it's manuver when expected and is now being analysed

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The ExoMars orbiter is now in orbit around Mars.

Phew, one part of the mission has worked at least. And Flight Operations Director Michel Denis is smiling for the first time in hours.

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The livestream will be back in 1 hour mins to prepare for the confirmation of Schiaparelli's landing

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The livestream is back!

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It is confirmed that the Trace Gas Orbiter has completed its Mars insertion with nominal accuracy

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ESA's hopes of landing on Mars shattered?
Europe’s dreams of landing on a planet appeared shattered tonight after the ExoMars Schiaparelli space probe lost contact with mission control during its descent to the surface of Mars.

In scenes reminiscent of the ill-fated Beagle 2 mission in 2003, the European Space Agency stopped receiving a signal from its probe shortly before landing.

Mission controllers in Darmstadt, Germany, were expecting the ‘all’s well’ signal at around 4pm yesterday afternoon, and even had cameras raised to capture the moment that the wavy line appeared on monitors to announce Schiaparelli’s safe arrival.

But as the minutes ticked over, it was clear that no signal was coming. Camera arms were lowered and hopeful expressions replaced with furrowed brows as the team started to hunt for signs of life from other spacecraft orbiting Mars.

However while the landing drama was unfolding, the ExoMars spacecraft which delivered the probe successfully managed to settle into orbit around Mars after making a 139 minute engine burn.

Starting next year, the orbiter will sniff the Martian atmosphere for traces of methane and help scientists decide whether it is being made be living creatures.

“Failure to make contact will have important implications for the rover mission – probably the most critical will be the political implications for securing funding for the Rover mission, which will be happening at the Ministerial in December.

“But the positive is that orbiter is safe, and gives us many years of ground-breaking science and discovery ahead.”

The loss of signal led to comparisons with the Beagle 2 mission, spearheaded by Prof Colin Pillinger of the Open University, which set off to look for signs of life on Mars in 2003, but disappeared on its way to the surface.

At 3.42pm, UK time on Wednesday it was due to begin a ‘six minutes of terror’ journey through the Martian atmosphere. During this time the probe was travelling on autopilot and mission controllers on Earth could only sit and wait.

Although it carries some instruments, Schiaparelli's main job is to test out the Russian-designed landing system for a future ExoMars rover which is currently being built by Airbus in Hertfordshire and is due to launch in 2020.

Schiaparelli was due to spend about four days gathering weather data before its batteries ran out.

Britain's David Parker, Director of Human Spaceflight at the ESA said he was confident that the second part of the mission, the rover, will still go ahead in 2020.

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Mars landing: ESA declare success despite Schiaparelli probe's silence

So that’s it for today. ESA will make their next official statements about the Trace Gas Orbiter and the Schiaparelli lander at 9am UK time tomorrow.

For the TGO, everything is peachy. The spacecraft is in the expected orbit and functioning normally. For Schiaparelli things don’t look so good.

The signal was received for a good part of its journey through the Martian atmosphere but was lost before the lander reached the surface. This is confirmed by both the radio telescope tracking from Earth and the Mars Express spacecraft, which was recording the descent from orbit.

Although it would be a disappointment for the landing to fail at the last moment, the most important thing was that it happens now and not in 2020 when ESA send their life-detecting rover to the surface.

So all in all, today was a success. A fantastic new science mission is now in orbit around Mars and the landing test returned invaluable data for the engineers to make the 2020 landing safer.

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What Happened to Europe's ExoMars Lander? - What We Know | Video
Transmissions from the Entry, descent and landing Demonstrator Module (EDM) "Schiaparelli" ceased during its descent through Mars' atmosphere on Oct. 19, 2016. A few hours later, data analyzed but ExoMars team from ESA's Mars Express orbiter confirmed the loss of signal at the same point. Data analysis will continue through the night.
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