Play Pacman, Pinball, and Pong With a Paramecium

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Play Pacman, Pinball, and Pong With a Paramecium

Posted by timothy on Saturday January 15, 2011 @04:08AM from the why-I-don't-bathe dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Science is rarely ever this cool! 'Physicist Ingmar Riedel-Kruse and his team from Stanford University have done just that by creating versions of classic games that you can navigate by physically controlling living organisms. A game called PAC-mecium is Pacman with a twist: players use a console to change the polarity of an electrical field in a fluid chamber filled with paramecia, which makes the organisms move in different directions. A camera sends real-time images to a computer, where they are superimposed onto a game board (see video above). By looking at the screen, a player can guide the paramecia to eat virtual yeast cells and make them avoid Pacman-like fish. A microprocessor tracks the movement of the organisms to keep score.' Also available are versions of Pinball, Pong, and soccer."

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Just a game by ian_from_brisbane · 2011-01-15 04:10 · Score: 5, Insightful

Some higher species might be doing the same thing with us humans.
1. Re:Just a game by Carnivorous+Vulgaris · 2011-01-15 04:14 · Score: 2
  
  If this is just a game, how can we tell who the NPCs are?
2. Re:Just a game by The_mad_linguist · 2011-01-15 04:15 · Score: 2
  
  Welcome to Corneria.
3. Re:Just a game by Mitchell314 · 2011-01-15 04:48 · Score: 1
  
  AKA King Steve's Kickass City.
  
  --
  I read TFA and all I got was this lousy cookie
4. Re:Just a game by commodore64_love · 2011-01-15 04:53 · Score: 1
  
  >>>Some higher species might be doing the same thing with us humans.
  Ahhh..... you've seen the end of Men In Black 2. ;-) As for this game I'm pretty sure I've already played it on my 70s-era Atari: http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=9026
  And of course other Pac-Man clones like Maze Craze, Make Trax, Ladybuy, Mouse Trap (cats instead of ghosts - eat a pill and your mouse becomes adog), and so on. Some of these were better than the official Pacman/Ms Pacman from Atari, although I think Jr PacMan was the best of the bunch (it's a real challenge).
  
  --
  "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
5. Re:Just a game by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-15 04:56 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah, where does the line get drawn. Dog vs. dog combat landed Michael Vick in jail for a stretch, but there's a long ways to go (in the Aristotilean sense) between paramecia and dogs.
6. Re:Just a game by Kilrah_il · 2011-01-15 05:24 · Score: 1
  
  Asimov to the rescue...
  
  --
  Whenever in an argument, remember this.
7. Re:Just a game by somersault · 2011-01-15 05:37 · Score: 1
  
  If you can't kill them, they're definitely an NPC. If they keep repeating themselves or try sending them on a quest they're probably an NPC too. It's worth trying to kill these ones just for bug testing purposes. Careful though, if you're too obvious with the killings, the admins often send guards after you. The guards are harder to kill as they often work in groups, so running away is the best idea here.
  
  --
  which is totally what she said
8. Re:Just a game by somersault · 2011-01-15 05:38 · Score: 1
  
  sending you on a quest*
  
  --
  which is totally what she said
9. Re:Just a game by McTickles · 2011-01-15 06:08 · Score: 1
  
  Of course...
  You'd be daft to think otherwise.
  --
  http://www.twilightcampaign.net/
10. Re:Just a game by suomynonAyletamitlU · 2011-01-15 06:43 · Score: 1
  
  *sigh* Times are tough.
11. Re:Just a game by Brannoncyll · 2011-01-15 08:34 · Score: 1
  
  Also remember that this game has no respawns unless you hail from a particular region of south-Asia (a privilege granted for chumming up the devs no doubt).
12. Re:Just a game by marco.antonio.costa · 2011-01-15 08:59 · Score: 1
  
  An RTS probably?
  
  --
  Send your spendthrift head of state this
13. Re:Just a game by Dunbal · 2011-01-15 09:15 · Score: 1
  
  So the pope - who else?
  
  --
  Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
14. Re:Just a game by PseudonymousBraveguy · 2011-01-16 00:02 · Score: 1
  
  Urge to destroy world ... rising
15. Re:Just a game by fishexe · 2011-01-16 11:55 · Score: 1
  
  You know what this reminds me of?
  Natalie Portman Hot Grits!
  
  --
  "I don't care about the Constitution!" --Bill O'Reilly, November 17, 2009
the arrogance of this by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-15 04:15 · Score: 1

disgusting. they are life too.
1. Re:the arrogance of this by Shikaku · 2011-01-15 04:26 · Score: 1
  
  Um. Have you not noticed that we humans are the characters in a game and the score is money? Guess who the players are as well.
2. Re:the arrogance of this by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-15 04:37 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  you do know where your posting right ?
3. Re:the arrogance of this by RichardJenkins · 2011-01-15 04:38 · Score: 2
  
  Hope you've never played naughts and crosses on paper, that shit is made fom plants you know.
4. Re:the arrogance of this by chichilalescu · 2011-01-15 05:10 · Score: 1
  
  I agree, and I don't really know why they modded you down.
  This is worse than organized dog/cock fights.
  I understand that these things don't have a mind of their own (as far as we can tell), but I say it's wrong.
  
  --
  new sig
5. Re:the arrogance of this by chichilalescu · 2011-01-15 05:18 · Score: 1
  
  there is an industry of creating paper, because we use it for various things that lead to food and shelter. some of us exercise our minds from time to time by playing tictactoe, and that doesn't seem directly related to our survival. however, that is still a sort of training.
  this particular story discusses some people who took a computer game and tried to recreate it with live creatures. it is wrong because there is no advantage in doing it with live creatures (even if there might be a point to actually proving that it can be done). If they can show that they learned someting new by doing this, then it might make sense. But from what I see, they're just saying that they're making chemistry more attractive. That doesn't make sense to me, because I'm sure it would be much cheaper to just reproduce the chemistry in an actual computer game, than working with the real thing.
  
  --
  new sig
6. Re:the arrogance of this by somersault · 2011-01-15 05:42 · Score: 1
  
  How the hell is it worse than making dogs and cocks (hur hur hur) fight each other? Puppies are way cuter than parameciumseses.
  
  --
  which is totally what she said
7. Re:the arrogance of this by dAzED1 · 2011-01-15 05:43 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  uhh...it's worse than dog fights? You're trolling, right? Dogs are social, self-aware beings that can solve complex problems, have emotions, form social bonds, suffer, experience joy, etc. Paramecium...are single-celled organisms. You might as well be concerned about torturing a rock, or air; they have no ability to feel pain, and certainly no ability to suffer.
8. Re:the arrogance of this by Kilrah_il · 2011-01-15 05:49 · Score: 1
  
  Many times you don't know what the benefit of a science experiment/project will be, not till many years after that. Maybe it started as some kind of pet project (no pun intended), and maybe that's all it will ever amount to. But maybe in a few years we'll see applications for this. Sometimes we just do stuff to "goof around" and we may be surprised at the results. Example: Google's "20% time " revolves exactly around this idea, and it has been very productive.
  Now, you might say that I would think differently if the PacMan game involved dogs and not Paramecium, and I would probably agree. In all experiment we have to weight the suffering of the subject with the visible benefit of the project. Paramecium is a protozoa , which is a primitive organism with no nervous system (second paragraph), while a dog is a much more advanced organism which shows obvious signs of suffering when hurt.
  If you would argue that "useless" experiments on all organisms are prohibited, it will be a huge hinderence to science and in the long run might prevent the development of life saving inventions. And yes, there is a hidden assumption that human life is more important than Paramicium's; if we don't agree on that, we will have a hard time agreeing on anything else regarding this subject.
  
  --
  Whenever in an argument, remember this.
9. Re:the arrogance of this by supertrinko · 2011-01-15 05:49 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Correction, there is no apostrophe.
  
  --
  If it rhymes it must be true.
10. Re:the arrogance of this by supertrinko · 2011-01-15 05:52 · Score: 1
  
  I find your conditions for respecting life intriguing. If we gain from it, then it's ok to treat them badly?
  
  --
  If it rhymes it must be true.
11. Re:the arrogance of this by genner · 2011-01-15 06:00 · Score: 1
  
  Um. Have you not noticed that we humans are the characters in a game and the score is money? Guess who the players are as well.
  Capitalism Ho!
12. Re:the arrogance of this by echucker · 2011-01-15 06:42 · Score: 1
  
  I hope you don't eat meat or plants or anything.... They we living once, too.
13. Re:the arrogance of this by Shikaku · 2011-01-15 08:05 · Score: 1
  
  Merde...
14. Re:the arrogance of this by Dunbal · 2011-01-15 09:17 · Score: 1
  
  Not to mention - won't someone PLEASE think of the water molecules?
  
  --
  Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
15. Re:the arrogance of this by Raenex · 2011-01-15 11:39 · Score: 1
  
  they have no ability to feel pain, and certainly no ability to suffer.
  How do you know?
16. Re:the arrogance of this by zygotic+mitosis · 2011-01-15 12:16 · Score: 1
  
  Don't worry. The researchers have asked the colony for volunteers. All paramecia you see are in the game of their own free will
17. Re:the arrogance of this by ksandom · 2011-01-15 14:25 · Score: 1
  
  That made my day. If only I had some mod points right now! :D
  
  --
  Funnyhacks - Wierd, unusual, and fun hacks
do it with electrodes in a frog's brain by circletimessquare · 2011-01-15 04:17 · Score: 4, Funny

go to i95 or you rlocal 8 lane highway, play frogger for real
since frog muscles will respond to electric jolts after death, do it with a dead frog, so PETA can't complain
then you have something even better than the classic arcade: zombie frogger
or, more in style with the electrical bolts and mad scientist-messing-with-life theme here: frankenstein frogger

--
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
1. Re:do it with electrodes in a frog's brain by Viperpete · 2011-01-15 06:59 · Score: 1
  
  Who needs electricity, just use good ol' mechanical force and launch them across the freeway, some may prefer to throw them, use a bat or even make an elaborate catapult (frogapult?) I find a tennis racquet works quite well.
  
  --
  loose: not fitting closely or tightly != lose: to suffer the deprivation of
2. Re:do it with electrodes in a frog's brain by Briareos · 2011-01-15 08:28 · Score: 1
  
  Who needs electricity, just use good ol' mechanical force and launch them across the freeway,[...]
  "Angry Frogs"?
  
  --
  "I'm not anti-anything, I'm anti-everything, it fits better." - Sole
3. Re:do it with electrodes in a frog's brain by fishexe · 2011-01-16 12:02 · Score: 1
  
  since frog muscles will respond to electric jolts after death, do it with a dead frog, so PETA can't complain
  Meh, you'll probably give them a reason to complain by how you procure a dead frog. I'm guessing it has to be fairly fresh for that to work.
  
  --
  "I don't care about the Constitution!" --Bill O'Reilly, November 17, 2009
Combat? by errxn · 2011-01-15 04:23 · Score: 1

Can I play Combat with it? That way, I can pull the good ol' "shoot-him-through-the-wall" trick and then watch when it gets all pissed off and throws the controller at me.

--
In Soviet Russia, Chuck Norris will still kick your ass.
In B4 PETA! by IonOtter · 2011-01-15 04:24 · Score: 1

In before PETA drama!
*reads comments in the FA* ...crap.

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[End Of Line]
1. Re:In B4 PETA! by RichMan · 2011-01-15 04:39 · Score: 1
  
  Are you breathing? Are your saliva glands, stomach and intestine working? Do you have white blood cells?
  If any of the above are true your body already is a micro-organism slaughter ground.
2. Re:In B4 PETA! by Mitchell314 · 2011-01-15 04:47 · Score: 1
  
  *gasp* gp is a genocidal murderer!
  
  --
  I read TFA and all I got was this lousy cookie
3. Re:In B4 PETA! by somersault · 2011-01-15 05:43 · Score: 1
  
  How dare he try to keep his immune system healthy! Won't somebody please think of the infections?
  
  --
  which is totally what she said
Meh by b00m3rang · 2011-01-15 04:28 · Score: 1

Wake me up when I can play Smash T.V. with live puppies. "Good luck... You'll need it!"
Beware by gmuslera · 2011-01-15 04:31 · Score: 2

If you hit their modem line and hack into, another game will be available, "Global Biological War", but i remember that the only way to win is not to play it.
1. Re:Beware by Viperpete · 2011-01-15 07:03 · Score: 1
  
  "Global Biological War", but i remember that the only way to win is not to play it.
  I guess you could also say "the only way to play is by winning"
  citation
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_Legend_(novel)
  
  --
  loose: not fitting closely or tightly != lose: to suffer the deprivation of
In other news.... by Immostlyharmless · 2011-01-15 04:33 · Score: 1

The researchers at Stanford University were dismayed when told by the department head that they needed to shut the project down after receiving a cease and desist letter from Capcoms lawyers stating they were committing copyright infringement.
1. Re:In other news.... by arth1 · 2011-01-15 05:01 · Score: 1
  
  *chuckle*
  But what I find more likely is that Stanford lawyers have already rushed out and patented using non-sentient life as a component in computer games, and would sue CapCom if they did the same.
2. Re:In other news.... by Velox_SwiftFox · 2011-01-15 05:02 · Score: 1
  
  And a notice from the state game commission that it might violate laws against "virtual" remote hunting of live organisms if implemented over the Internet.
My biggest issue by Georules · 2011-01-15 05:10 · Score: 1

is that the first game looks nothing like Pong, but rather, Breakout.
as the token vegan and animal rights activist... by dAzED1 · 2011-01-15 05:48 · Score: 1

as the token vegan and animal rights activist let me just say that I greatly appreciate the respect people give when comparing concerns about the treatment of animals that are capable of suffering (dogs, pigs, cows, etc) to...paramecium. Nothing says you know you're wrong better than overblowing a comparison to silly, extreme levels to try to defame your opponent.
Re:Sounds pretty cruel to me (was: Re:Just a game) by Kilrah_il · 2011-01-15 05:50 · Score: 1

If you could mutate from a protozoa to a virus... well, we have a Noble prize at hand!

--
Whenever in an argument, remember this.
Re:Sounds pretty cruel to me (was: Re:Just a game) by bpsbr_ernie · 2011-01-15 05:51 · Score: 1

I was thinking the same thing. I expect PETA to step in at any time now...
Not a PETA supporter, but ... by fleeped · 2011-01-15 06:18 · Score: 1

While I happily eat pigs, cows, fish & all sorts of meat, I'd never kill them or torture them for fun ( ok I've done it as a kid, but who hasn't). Of course there's a difference between pigs and paramecium, but the idea is the same, and the 'capability of suffering' threshold is very very vague, like arbitrary. Using living things for research, I'm totally ok with that. Eating living things as we're higher in the food chain, I'm totally ok with that. Harming living things for fun is not cool - Uncoolness factor being proportional to living thing complexity.
hmm by Essequemodeia · 2011-01-15 06:50 · Score: 1

If I said "duck vaginas" would anyone know to what I'm referring?
Whoah by chrisG23 · 2011-01-15 06:52 · Score: 2

This creeps me the fuck out on a base level.
1. Re:Whoah by Xyrus · 2011-01-15 08:26 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  I know it does. I just upped the impulse in your amygdala and slightly lowered your dopamine. It was a slight penalty to my logical reasoning score but gave me much needed morality points.
  
  --
  ~X~
2. Re:Whoah by chrisG23 · 2011-01-15 17:57 · Score: 1
  
  Instead of funny this comment should be modded deeply insightful.
BEST. STORY. EVER. by DumbparameciuM · 2011-01-15 09:22 · Score: 1

*points to user name*
I would have been up for playing games with you guys whenever - you just had to ask!!!

--
"We are Samurai, the Keyboard...Cowboys"
1. Re:BEST. STORY. EVER. by fishexe · 2011-01-16 12:09 · Score: 1
  
  *points to user name*
  I would have been up for playing games with you guys whenever - you just had to ask!!!
  ...but it's more fun to force you by electrically controlling your impulses.
  
  --
  "I don't care about the Constitution!" --Bill O'Reilly, November 17, 2009
Dear Mr. Ingmar Riedel-Kruse by CuteSteveJobs · 2011-01-15 12:05 · Score: 1

Once you've finished curing cancer, then you can tease the paramecium.
They're cute little creatures. Run around on the microscope slide like an over-eager dog. Why would anyone want to torture one for a game? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramecium
That's great, but... by daitengu · 2011-01-15 16:53 · Score: 1

I'll be impressed when they manage to pull it off with only one mecium.
Re:Where's PETA? NT by fishexe · 2011-01-16 12:08 · Score: 1

Probably living in the 21st century, wherein paramecia aren't considered animals.

--
"I don't care about the Constitution!" --Bill O'Reilly, November 17, 2009
Re:It lacks sufficient complexity by Raenex · 2011-01-16 15:07 · Score: 1

Pain is entirely the creation of a nervous system, and suffering is the creation of memory of pain.
How do you know?
Needs better DRM by RealGrouchy · 2011-01-17 04:42 · Score: 1

This game could easily be hacked to connect the controller directly to the game. That would be unfair to all those who achieved a decent high score using the paramecium-webcam interface.
- RG>

--
Hey pal, this isn't a pleasantforest, so don't waste my time with pleasantries!