How popular is gaming? What’s behind this popularity?
Currently there are more than half a billion people worldwide playing online games at least an hour a day — and 183 million in the U.S. alone. The younger you are, the more likely you are to be a gamer: 97% of boys under 18 and 94% of girls under 18 report playing videogames regularly. And the average young person racks up 10,000 hours of gaming by the age of 21. That’s 24 hours less than they spend in a classroom for all of middle and high school if they have perfect attendance. It’s really a remarkable amount of time we’re spending playing games. Five million gamer in the U.S., in fact, are spending more than 40 hours a week playing games — the equivalent of a full time job!
Why is this happening? According to my research, it’s because games do a better job of provoking our most powerful positive emotions, like curiosity, optimism, pride, and a desire to join forces with others to achieve something extraordinary. Games are also a particularly effective way to bond with our friends and family, strengthening our real-life and online social networks in ways that no other kind of social interaction can. Read more »
“Batman! Superman! Spiderman!” shouted a crowd of young campers, eager to share the names of their favorite superheroes, as guide Michael Malave kicked off his “super power” tour through the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life and the Akeley Hall of African Mammals.
“When you look around the hall, you can see many animals, and each of them has an ability that helps them to succeed and survive,” explained Malave to the pack of superhero enthusiasts. “This is much like how superheroes use their powers to win and beat the bad guys.”
Malave, who studies applied math at Marist College, was one of 32 students selected for last year’s Museum Education and Employment Program (MEEP), a summer internship that trains college-age students from the New York City area to develop and lead free themed tours for camp groups who flock to the Museum’s halls each weekday. In 2010, MEEPers, as the student guides are affectionately known, led more than 580 tours in a span of six weeks — an average of more than 20 tours a day.
Part of the Museum’s science education pipeline, a slate of programming that extends from early childhood courses to programs for undergraduates, MEEP is also one of many youth initiatives supported by New York Life Foundation. “The Museum is a leader in providing science education, and MEEP offers college students a valuable opportunity to both learn about and get work experience in this important field,” says Christine Park, president of the New York Life Foundation.
MEEPers spend their first month training with Museum staff to learn the content of the Museum’s halls while crafting original 45-minute tours based on personal or academic interests. Once staff and supervisors approve the tours, which cover topics that range from deep-sea creatures to shamanic practices, MEEPers have the rest of the summer to perfect their presentation. Their challenge: to be ready to improvise on the spot depending on their audience, which could be three-year-olds one day and college or even graduate students the next. Read more »
On Tuesday, January 25, the Museum kicked off the six-day Global Weekends: Brain and the Tibetan Creative Mind program with a traditional opening ceremony performed by monks from Drepung Loseling Monastery. Known in Tibet as Sa-chong, the ceremony, which includes chants, music, and mantras, prepared the area for the creation of a sand mandala. Over the next four days, the monks will complete the “Medicine Buddha” sand mandala in the Hall of Birds of the World.
Visit the Museum to see a traditional cham performance, learn about Tibetan arts, watch the making of the sand mandala, and more. The full schedule is available here. And, check out the clip of Tuesday’s opening ceremony below.
How do drugs and drug use impact the brain? In this podcast from a recent SciCafe, Carl Hart, Associate Professor at Columbia University, shared his latest research and his sometimes surprising findings.
The program kicked off with an introduction by Rob DeSalle, Curator in the Museum’s Division of Invertebrate Zoology and curator of the ongoing exhibition “Brain: The Inside Story.”
While crossword puzzles have been proven to exercise the brain and improve memory, guessing the answer to a difficult clue also provides emotional satisfaction, according to New York Times crossword editor Will Shortz.
Shortz, who last week spoke at the Museum program “This is Your Brain on Ping Pong,“ recently shared his passion for both puzzles and drop shots.
Check out the video below, and for more puzzles and brain teasers, visit the exhibition Brain: The Inside Story.
