Cards Against Humanity

Cards Against Humanity has shown its true colours. Outing itself as Cards Against the Humanities, it has announced the formation of the Cards Against Humanity Science Ambassador Scholarship.

The full-ride scholarship will be funded by proceeds from the adults-only card game's latest expansion -- the aptly themed Science Pack -- and is for women seeking undergraduate degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (the so-called STEM subjects).

"Everyone at Cards Against Humanity was fortunate enough to receive a great college education that helped us find a job that we're passionate about, and our goal with this scholarship is to make that opportunity available to others," Jenn Bane, Cards Against Humanity's community manager, said in a press release. "Several of the co-creators of Cards Against Humanity earned degrees in science, whereas I got a degree in journalism. Now look at where I am. Writing this press release for them."

More than that, the team was determined to address the underrepresentation of women in STEM fields.

"We felt like the funding from this pack could have the greatest impact by making it possible for more women to get an education in those fields, and by giving them a platform to share their work and their passion for science," Cards Against Humanity co-creator Josh Dillon said in a release. Dillon will defend his thesis on astrophysics at MIT next month.

According to the release, "applicants can be in high school or college, and must identify as women in a way that's significant to them. Recipients of the Cards Against Humanity Science Ambassador Scholarship will receive full tuition coverage for up to four years." Prospective applicants can sign up at ScienceAmbassadorScholarship.org to be notified when applications are opened for the fall 2016 school year.

The applications will be reviewed by a board of over 40 notable women in science, who hold higher degrees and work professionally in the field, including representatives from NASA, Harvard Medical School, the Smithsonian Institution, the Adler Planetarium and the US Army Corps of Engineers, as well as TED, NSF, Huxley, and Hubble fellows.

It's not Cards Against Humanity's first foray into charity either, with previous similar packs having raised nearly $2 million for organisations like the Wikimedia Foundation and the Sunlight Foundation, as well as funding for poverty-stricken classrooms across the US.

Already available on the Cards Against Humanity website for $10, the Science Pack is "about the hit system of knowledge known worldwide as 'science,'" and was co-written with Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait and SMBC's Zach Weinersmith.

Thanks to this charitable initiative on the part of Cards Against Humanity, we can all continue to be horrible people, totally absolved of any guilt incurred by playing the game. Which you can now do online. For science.