Play this game and help cure cancer

"Play To Cure: Genes in Space" may look like a space flight simulator — and technically speaking it is — but the maps that players use for navigating their spacecraft are actually cleverly disguised pieces of genetic data. Developed by Cancer Research UK in collaboration with programmers from Amazon, Google, Facebook and games studio Omnisoft, the free app is available to download for iOS and Android devices. The aim of the game is pretty simple: to plot a course through what look like asteroid fields in order to collect something called ‘element alpha'. However, the fields are actually data gathered from 2,000 patients with breast cancer — data which, if thoroughly analyzed, could lead to better testing procedures and treatments in the future.