Micro-Algaes May Help Remediate Salton Sea's Disaster

Spirulina and dead fish floating on surface of East Lake in Wuhan, China. 
Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Post OptionsThe Salton Sea stands the risk of becoming Eutrophic which will ultimately cause the rest of the fish to die.  It may be possible to remedy the problem using ancient bacterias known as micro-algae such as Spirulina platensis.

Video Games That Give and Take

Segment of a social network Image via Wikipedia

Wouldn't it be great if you could earn real bonuses or punishments in exchange for your video game-play. For instance you could cash in your virtual coins for coupons for your favorite places.  If you loose and get game over then you are locked out for at least 12 hours. Yes, real consequences. What if you could get bonus keys to unlock additional features of a game in exchange for good grades and attendance? What power we could return to the parents. 

We are working on creating just such a game that involves live interaction via avatar where you go on real quests in the real world and receive points to unlock deeper features of the game.  The name is CosmoSapien-MMXII and it will involve real world activities using social networks and resources beyond the gameworld. We want to work with someone like School Loop to integrate game play coupons with grades and attendance.  If you pull of perfect attendance in school you will earn a reward that contains coupons that unlike various segments of the game and give you classified info with hints and shortcuts. Each "A" earns free game-play.  What about the B's and C's, sorry there is no second place in the world of CosmoSapien.

Teachers can also give game play as rewards for various academic achievements. Parents and teachers working together for the benefit of the player.  The game itself has to be pretty good for the incentives to work but here is a twist.  Individual players are represented in the game with an avatar. Many of the challenges and quests are in First Life for which the player gains wealth and power in the game.  All of this creates a players reputation that follows them into the gameworld. Your success depends on your ability to enlist others to your cause or quest.  The line between First Life and Second Life are blurred as you work together with your teammates to find the solution or accomplish the task.  You live and die by your reputation and a very large active network of friends definitely gets the job done.

It literally pays to be a good citizen in both worlds.  Your teachers and parents can reward you with money in the currency of CosmoSapien