Your login information returned multiple users. Please select the user you would like to log in as and re-type in your password.
Community Highlight - A feature where we choose an article submitted by a member of the 4Player Community and bring it to the front page for all to see. Interested in seeing your article on the front page? Then submit one Here.
Article by: Vercingetorix
In order to gain an appreciation for man's struggle to keep up with nature in the name of survival, one needn't look further than the never-ending drive for medical innovation. While there's no question that we've come quite far during the last few millennia (having the ability to live beyond 40 is certainly a plus), nature, being the recalcitrant angel that she is, largely remains a mystery.
One such mystery which has served as a particularly large and persistent headache to AIDS researchers for quite some time has just recently been solved: the structure of M-PMV retroviral protease. A team of people have solved in a matter of ten days what scores of scientists have been unable to determine for over a decade.
But the plot thickens -- barely an eighth of the people involved even had a career in science, and two-thirds of the most significant contributors didn't even have biochemistry experience beyond high school. What unifying characteristic defined an otherwise motley group of would-be structural biologists?
You guessed it: They were gamers. The structure of that particularly troublesome protease, the revelation of which has now opened new avenues for AIDS research, was determined by people who played an online game called Foldit.
Foldit is the product of a collaboration between University of Washington computer scientists and biochemists as a way of outsourcing current problems in protein structure via the establishment of a grid computing network (similar to the World Community Grid, discussed Here). However, Foldit is a fully-functioning video game. As one can see from the team that determined the protease's structure, a scientific background is not required -- it is essentially a puzzle game that happens to involve the manipulation of proteins; the only prerequisite is a willingness to test one's spatial perception skills. A global leaderboard is maintained for high scores, and teams may also be formed (with corresponding team leaderboards). I've just recently downloaded and installed the program, and I must say that the tutorials do a good job of walking one through the game's (already quite intuitive) mechanics. For those of you who don't want to hear about "alpha carbons" and "beta sheets," there's no need to worry -- jargon is kept to a bare minimum.
Most importantly, data gathered through users' manipulation of the puzzles serves a very real contribution to scientific research. The structure of the M-PMV protease has already been published by a high-impact journal. By combining existing structure prediction software and gamers' puzzle-solving skills, there is real potential for even more discoveries (no Nobel Prizes yet, but who knows?). Plus, it's a great opportunity to show 4PP's science side.
Source: Foldit
Source: CNET Article
Comments
13 years, 3 months ago
Awesome! I may check this out!
13 years, 3 months ago
Really interesting, not in a million years would I have thought that a videogame could contribute to advanced medical advancement, and the fact that it has helped a lot for AIDS research is great!
awesome article; this could be an interesting feed game too
13 years, 3 months ago
I like the idea of crowdsourcing when applied in this fashion (not so much in others). I know it can be finicky if you're looking for legitimate input and the trolling individual comes along, e.g. the case with some chatbots, but in this case it seems to be a win-win situation. I love it!
13 years, 3 months ago
I have that science thing on my ps3, so I'm already contributing. Although, not like this.
13 years, 3 months ago
While this is surprising I can't say I am surprised on the "What are the odds of this" level. Gamers are sometimes more dedicated at what they do, I mean look at professional gamers that almost seem to respond like robots in shooters, look at the people who go out to solve the puzzles valve gives us. It really is amazing what gamers can be capable of when they work together for common goals like this, it's strange, perhaps the power of anonymity goes beyond being an asshole.
13 years, 3 months ago
I know us gamers have a need for games to be seen in a positive light but god damn, overkill much?
13 years, 3 months ago
Videogames bad for your health? Bitch, we curin AIDs up in here.
13 years, 3 months ago
Websites like Fark and Reddit have been making a bigger deal of this with the emphasis being on gamers making these breakthroughs. I don't know too much but it seems it was more a few scientists got stuck so they needed the help of a lot. So I think we should give credit to those who participated and not just gamers as a whole.
13 years, 3 months ago
This. This is a good thing. I'll definitely be checking it out.
13 years, 3 months ago
Ummm wow. Bravo to the person that came up with this! What a great idea!
13 years, 3 months ago
That is really amazing
13 years, 3 months ago
Imagine if a cure is found through this...