Foldit - I am going to try this

Gamers Saving Lives -- Biochemists And Computer Scientists Collaborate To Create Protein-folding Computer Game

http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2008/1003-gamers_saving_lives.htm#

ScienceDaily () -- Computer scientists designed a computer game based on the principles of biochemistry. It allows amateurs to compete against and collaborate with specialists to design protein structures. Introductory levels teach the general governing concepts that users must understand before moving on to design complicated, potentially useful molecules.

What if instead of waging war or dropping blocks, gamers set their sights on something like a new HIV vaccine? Sounds strange, but biochemistry might be the new must-play video game.

It looks and sounds like a computer game, but Foldit is much more than just a computer game -- it's crucial biochemistry research.

Biochemist David Baker wants to discover the unique folding of proteins to better understand how they make our bodies work. A friend suggested turning this scientific puzzle into a game. That's where computer scientist Zoran Popovic and his team come in.

"You no longer need to get a degree in biochemistry to actually start doing this stuff," says Zoran Popovic, Ph.D., an associate professor in the department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle.

The game's introductory levels "trick" you into learning all the concepts you need to know. Then all you do is play -- alone or in teams.

"I know that some of our users have kind of described it as Tetris on steroids or something," Dr. Popovic says. The goal is to get the highest score by folding the proteins based on the same criteria they use in the lab. Each protein is a puzzle -- the more people play, the better chance a correct "fold" will be discovered for each protein. Eventually the puzzles could be used to help make vaccines and even cure genetic diseases.

"You can get into work and say I stayed up all night -- [but] I wasn't playing Halo," says David Baker, Ph.D., a biochemist at the University of Washington in Seattle. "I was designing an HIV vaccine."

Sometime ago I read about this online "game" which involves gamers playing police, having access to the many recordings of security cameras throughout London and scoring points each time a crime is reported...

The world is getting involved.