Four years ago, Borderlands 3 players were given the opportunity to do some science and have fun at the same time. Through a block-shifting puzzle mini-game, players could help scientists map and compare microbes, doing the work that even supercomputers struggled with. Developed in conjunction with McGill University, Massively Multiplayer Online Science, and The Microsetta Initiative, a study based on the data gathered from that game has been published and revealed that 4.5 million players took part. If you were one of them, this makes you a scientific contributor.
Published earlier this month in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Nature, the research focused on the microbial ecosystem within the human body: a complex field of study, as each person has trillions of these diverse microbes within their body. Scientists have been researching microbes for decades, examining them to see how they influence our bodies and how they change according to our diet, exercise, and several other factors.
“Here we have 4.5 million people who contributed to science,” said the paper’s senior author Jerome Waldispuhl (via IGN). “In a sense, this result is theirs too and they should feel proud about it.”