ScienceAtHome


ScienceAtHome is a team of scientists, game developers, designers and visual artists based at Aarhus University, Denmark. ScienceAtHome does research on quantum physics, citizen science and gamification. ScienceAtHome also develops games that contribute to scientific research, and studies how humans interpret information to achieve results superior to some algorithmic approaches.
Most ScienceAtHome games are casual games and require no formal scientific training. Over 150,000. people have contributed to ScienceAtHome citizen science projects by playing games. Research games are also part of a much larger movement of creating serious games that go beyond mere entertainment.
The premise behind such games is that humans are better than computers at performing certain tasks, because of their intuition and superior visual processing. Video games are now being used to channel these abilities to solve problems in quantum physics. Result from the flagship game, Quantum Moves have been published in scientific magazine, Nature.
“A computer goes through all available pathways the atom can move, whereas people search for solutions that intuitively feel right”– said game development leader Dr Jacob Sherson, associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Aarhus.

History

The idea of computer players solving quantum problems came to Jacob Sherson’s mind while he was doing research at Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, in the group of Prof. Immanuel Bloch. The first form of ScienceAtHome was announced in 2012 based on the idea that computer game players could solve quantum problems. It was then called CODER - “Pilot Center for Community-driven Research: Game Assisted Quantum Computing” - and it started with a game called Quantum Computer Game. CODER later grew and evolved into ScienceAtHome, and the Quantum Computer Games was renamed as Quantum Moves.

Publications

ScienceAtHome appeared in both national and international press several times. It has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, LA Times, The New Yorker, The Sydney Morning Herald and the BBC
Jacob Sherson gave a speech at TEDxAarhus 2016 called “How to become a quantum physicist in five minutes”.
Pinja Haikka, Postdoctoral Researcher in Theoretical Physics, also introduced ScienceAtHome at Women in Science event at Aarhus University, which was published at local television ITV OJ.

Projects

Games