{"id":13340,"date":"2015-05-05T18:08:06","date_gmt":"2015-05-05T22:08:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/creator\/?p=13340"},"modified":"2020-03-30T18:39:08","modified_gmt":"2020-03-30T22:39:08","slug":"mapping-the-brain-one-video-game-at-a-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/mapping-the-brain-one-video-game-at-a-time","title":{"rendered":"Mapping the brain, and making it all fun and games"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you were born at some point after 1976, and grew up in anything but the most unlikely of circumstances, there\u2019s a good chance that an adult of some kind\u2014a parent, a teacher, an aunt\u2014told you that you should stop playing video games because they were really bad for your brain. Forgive these finger-waggers: there was no way, after all, for them to imagine something as groundbreaking as EyeWire, a video game that harnesses the passions of hundreds of thousands of players to achieve no less exalted a task than the mapping of the human brain itself.<\/p>\n<p>Like so many other great inventions, <a href=\"https:\/\/eyewire.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">EyeWire<\/a>, was born of frustration. Working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a team led by neuroscientist Sebastian Seung grew weary of the time it took to map each of the brain\u2019s cells. Eager to advance this momentous undertaking, they managed to cut down the time it took to map each single cell\u2014a long and complicated process that previously consumed thousands of hours\u2014into a mere two-day stretch.<\/p>\n<p>Ever the scientists, Seung and his crew did some simple math: if the brain had around 80 billion cells, and if each cell took about 50 hours to map, that still meant that a team of 100 researchers, using the most recent computational technology and working every single hour of every day of the week without sleep or break, would still require upwards of 500,000 years to complete the project. Worried that mankind will never fully understand the magnificent processing unit that powers each of us to learn and love and communicate with each other, they looked elsewhere for sources of inspiration.<\/p>\n<p>Almost immediately, they stumbled on video games. Hundreds of millions of people, they knew, spent billions of hours\u2014as many as three billion hours per week, according to some calculations\u2014playing games online. What if one of these games would involve the actual cartography of actual neurons and synapses?<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-13373\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/06\/Mapping-the-Brain-2.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365\" alt=\"Mapping the Brain 2\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1365\" \/>Thus was born EyeWire. The game takes images of retinal cells that connect the eyes and the brain, and challenges gamers to identify their wiring. The faster and more accurate they get, the more they\u2019re rewarded by receiving points and unlocking special powers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a fun kind of game because no two cubes look alike,\u201d says Amy Robinson, the project\u2019s executive director. \u201cIt\u2019s a challenging puzzle, and as you play it you help discover a never-before-charted area of the brain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gamers agree: to date, more than 200,000 of them have become EyeWire devotees. Which, Robinson notes, is still a far cry from the number of gamers who flock each day to, say, World of Warcraft; still, those who get hooked on EyeWire tend to develop a special connection to the game, seeing it as much more than mere mind-numbing entertainment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne player built a bot to answer FAQs,\u201d Robinson says, recalling a helpful bit of user-generated software that immediately identified new players and directed them to helpful resources to aid them in their efforts to better master the game. \u201cHe hacked our system in such a wonderful way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s the kind of dedication you get when your game promotes perhaps the greatest scientific undertaking facing mankind at the moment; remember that next time anyone tells you video games are a waste of time.<\/p>\n<p>Photo credit: Lauren Kallen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you were born at some point after 1976, and grew up in anything but the most unlikely of circumstances, there\u2019s a good chance that an adult of some kind\u2014a parent, a teacher, an aunt\u2014told you that you should stop playing video games because they were really bad for your brain. Forgive these finger-waggers: there [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":908,"featured_media":13372,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43902],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-professional-development"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.4 (Yoast SEO v25.3.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Mapping the brain, and making it all fun and games<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you were born at some point after 1976, and grew up in anything but the most unlikely of circumstances, there\u2019s a good chance that an adult of some k\u2026\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/mapping-the-brain-one-video-game-at-a-time\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mapping the brain, and making it all fun and games\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you were born at some point after 1976, and grew up in anything but the most unlikely of circumstances, there\u2019s a good chance that an adult of some k\u2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/mapping-the-brain-one-video-game-at-a-time\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ideas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-05-05T22:08:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-03-30T22:39:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/05\/Mapping-the-brain.jpg?fit=3107%2C1787\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"3107\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1787\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Liel Leibovitz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Liel Leibovitz\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/mapping-the-brain-one-video-game-at-a-time#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/mapping-the-brain-one-video-game-at-a-time\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Liel Leibovitz\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#\/schema\/person\/3598b2bf480e2012cef8e1005b4096de\"},\"headline\":\"Mapping the brain, and making it all fun and games\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-05-05T22:08:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-03-30T22:39:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/mapping-the-brain-one-video-game-at-a-time\"},\"wordCount\":563,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/mapping-the-brain-one-video-game-at-a-time#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/05\/Mapping-the-brain.jpg?fit=3107%2C1787\",\"articleSection\":[\"Professional Development\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/mapping-the-brain-one-video-game-at-a-time\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/mapping-the-brain-one-video-game-at-a-time\",\"name\":\"Mapping the brain, and making it all fun and games\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/mapping-the-brain-one-video-game-at-a-time#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/mapping-the-brain-one-video-game-at-a-time#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/05\/Mapping-the-brain.jpg?fit=3107%2C1787\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-05-05T22:08:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-03-30T22:39:08+00:00\",\"description\":\"If you were born at some point after 1976, and grew up in anything but the most unlikely of circumstances, there\u2019s a good chance that an adult of some k\u2026\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/mapping-the-brain-one-video-game-at-a-time#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/mapping-the-brain-one-video-game-at-a-time\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/mapping-the-brain-one-video-game-at-a-time#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/05\/Mapping-the-brain.jpg?fit=3107%2C1787\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/05\/Mapping-the-brain.jpg?fit=3107%2C1787\",\"width\":3107,\"height\":1787},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/mapping-the-brain-one-video-game-at-a-time#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"\/ideas\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Professional Development\",\"item\":\"\/ideas\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Mapping the brain, and making it all fun and games\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/\",\"name\":\"Ideas\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#organization\",\"name\":\"WeWork\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/04\/welogo_black_55x55.jpg?fit=55%2C55\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/04\/welogo_black_55x55.jpg?fit=55%2C55\",\"width\":55,\"height\":55,\"caption\":\"WeWork\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#\/schema\/person\/3598b2bf480e2012cef8e1005b4096de\",\"name\":\"Liel Leibovitz\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/511e55555ad337db9a80d5a3a42b16443e082237a69f5b05e7caf402cca034ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/511e55555ad337db9a80d5a3a42b16443e082237a69f5b05e7caf402cca034ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Liel Leibovitz\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/author\/liel-leibovitz\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mapping the brain, and making it all fun and games","description":"If you were born at some point after 1976, and grew up in anything but the most unlikely of circumstances, there\u2019s a good chance that an adult of some k\u2026","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/mapping-the-brain-one-video-game-at-a-time","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mapping the brain, and making it all fun and games","og_description":"If you were born at some point after 1976, and grew up in anything but the most unlikely of circumstances, there\u2019s a good chance that an adult of some k\u2026","og_url":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/mapping-the-brain-one-video-game-at-a-time","og_site_name":"Ideas","article_published_time":"2015-05-05T22:08:06+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-03-30T22:39:08+00:00","og_image":[{"width":3107,"height":1787,"url":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/05\/Mapping-the-brain.jpg?fit=3107%2C1787","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Liel Leibovitz","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Liel Leibovitz","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/mapping-the-brain-one-video-game-at-a-time#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/mapping-the-brain-one-video-game-at-a-time"},"author":{"name":"Liel Leibovitz","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#\/schema\/person\/3598b2bf480e2012cef8e1005b4096de"},"headline":"Mapping the brain, and making it all fun and games","datePublished":"2015-05-05T22:08:06+00:00","dateModified":"2020-03-30T22:39:08+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/mapping-the-brain-one-video-game-at-a-time"},"wordCount":563,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/mapping-the-brain-one-video-game-at-a-time#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/05\/Mapping-the-brain.jpg?fit=3107%2C1787","articleSection":["Professional Development"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/mapping-the-brain-one-video-game-at-a-time","url":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/mapping-the-brain-one-video-game-at-a-time","name":"Mapping the brain, and making it all fun and games","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/mapping-the-brain-one-video-game-at-a-time#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/mapping-the-brain-one-video-game-at-a-time#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/05\/Mapping-the-brain.jpg?fit=3107%2C1787","datePublished":"2015-05-05T22:08:06+00:00","dateModified":"2020-03-30T22:39:08+00:00","description":"If you were born at some point after 1976, and grew up in anything but the most unlikely of circumstances, there\u2019s a good chance that an adult of some k\u2026","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/mapping-the-brain-one-video-game-at-a-time#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/mapping-the-brain-one-video-game-at-a-time"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/mapping-the-brain-one-video-game-at-a-time#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/05\/Mapping-the-brain.jpg?fit=3107%2C1787","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/05\/Mapping-the-brain.jpg?fit=3107%2C1787","width":3107,"height":1787},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/mapping-the-brain-one-video-game-at-a-time#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"\/ideas"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Professional Development","item":"\/ideas"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Mapping the brain, and making it all fun and games"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/","name":"Ideas","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#organization","name":"WeWork","url":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/04\/welogo_black_55x55.jpg?fit=55%2C55","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/04\/welogo_black_55x55.jpg?fit=55%2C55","width":55,"height":55,"caption":"WeWork"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#\/schema\/person\/3598b2bf480e2012cef8e1005b4096de","name":"Liel Leibovitz","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/511e55555ad337db9a80d5a3a42b16443e082237a69f5b05e7caf402cca034ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/511e55555ad337db9a80d5a3a42b16443e082237a69f5b05e7caf402cca034ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Liel Leibovitz"},"url":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/author\/liel-leibovitz"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/05\/Mapping-the-brain.jpg?fit=3107%2C1787","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/908"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13340"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48977,"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13340\/revisions\/48977"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}