NASA is calling all citizen scientists and video gamers to join a virtual expedition in the ocean to help map coral reefs around the world. To achieve its goal, the agency created a video game to better understand these threatened ecosystems.
NASA's Ames Research Center for years has been developing new tools that can be used to observe the surface of the ocean in more detail. By using "fluid-lensing" cameras, a tool originally developed to look at stars, researchers are able to observe the coral reefs clearly without distortions created by the water.
However, NASA needs more help to completely know the whole story of the ocean's corals as data alone from its instruments is not enough. This is why NeMO-Net was created, a video game that allows players to identify and classify corals using 3D images captured by Ames' research vessel, the Nautilus.
"NeMO-Net leverages the most powerful force on this planet: not a fancy camera or a supercomputer, but people," said principal investigator Ved Chirayath at Ames. "Anyone, even a first-grader, can play this game and sort through these data to help us map one of the most beautiful forms of life we know of."
While fashioned into a video game, NeMO-Net actually includes real data, allowing players to learn and discover the many species of corals found in the ocean. You can watch videos about life under the sea, read through some guides, earn badges, and track your progress.
As players navigate through the game, they are actually helping the Pleiades supercomputer at Ames to identify corals. The supercomputer "learns" from the coral classifications players make by hand, using machine learning techniques to classify on its own.
NASA is encouraging anyone interested to play the game in order to help improve the mapping abilities of Ames' supercomputer. If enough data is gathered, scientists will be able to understand life under the sea and find a way to save and preserve our coral reefs.
Corals are an important part of the ecosystem, but they also play an important role in fighting diseases. In the 21st century, coral reefs have been regarded as "medicine cabinets," as the organisms that live in it are being used as medicines to treat diseases such as cancer and viruses like HIV.
You can help out NASA by downloading NeMO-Net on the App Store. An Android release is yet to be announced by the Ames Research Center.
