Who knew that you can help science out by playing a minigame in Pandora?

In this bizarre collaboration, Gearbox Software, McGill University, Massively Multiplayer Online Science, and the Microsetta Initiative at UC San Diego School of Medicine are teaming up to introduce Borderlands Science. This minigame in the main title lets you solve coloured block puzzles based on DNA strands in order to help scientists compare and map microbes. Winning the minigame will net you in-game currency you can use for skins, heads, and boosters.

You can access the minigame via the infirmary on Sanctuary 3. You know, when you’re done farming Captain Traunt and Freddie the Traitor for the umpteenth time. Here’s a quote from McGill University’s professor Jérôme Waldispühl on how and why this happened:

“It was a simple choice to join Gearbox and its partners in making Borderlands Science a reality. Working to help align the gaming community with the biomedical field allows these two passionate groups to work together toward a result that we might not realize without the collaborative effort.”

The trailer is narrated by actress/scientist Mayim Bialik, whom you may remember from Blossom and kusoge show Big Bang Theory.

If you want to see how the actual project works, head to dnapuzzles.org.