Gaming is often viewed as frivolous entertainment, But what if gaming techniques could be leveraged to address society’s biggest questions? From enabling scientists to investigate diseases at an accelerated pace, to modelling player behaviours in a health pandemic, games – and the billions of people globally that play them – have contributed meaningfully to advancements in science, health, education. Perhaps games can be a force for good in the twenty-first century?

Our annual Curious Minds Lecture series, presented by Culture Perth & Kinross and the Perthshire Society of Natural Science is themed around “Contemporary Science in Scotland” and, over past seasons, speakers have covered a stimulating array of scientific topics from dinosaur fossils in Skye, through the human genome to black holes, gravitational waves and the science of consciousness.