Trivia
HardVideo Gamers Contributed To Breakthrough Research For What Illness?
Answer: AIDS
In 2008 scientists at the University of Washington’s Center for Game Science and Department of Biochemistry entered into a collaboration to create a game where players would contribute to research projects. The end result of their collaboration was the popular game Foldit; players play the game by solving protein model puzzles. From the perspective of the player the game is just a quirky and fun puzzle app, but from the perspective of the scientists analyzing the results it’s an incredibly efficient way to crowd source complex protein folding projects.
An excellent example of Foldit’s power for quickly solving complex problems is that of the Mason-Pfizer monkey virus retroviral protease. In 2011 Foldit posted the protease problem as a puzzle on the site for a three week window. Players were able to collaboratively produce an accurate model of the enzyme in just ten days–successfully modeling the enzyme had stumped scientists since its discovery fifteen years earlier. The 3D model created by Foldit players was published in the science journal Nature and went on to be used in the computer modeling of antiretroviral drugs.
Trivia
HardWhich Search Phrase Did Google Temporarily Ban Under The Belief They Were Experiencing A Cyber Attack?
Trivia
HardIf You Want To Dig Through The Earth To Get To China, You’d Better Start In?
Trivia
HardIn The 1980s The Mobro 4000 Was Extremely Influential In What?
Trivia
HardThe First CPU Widely Used In Hobbyist Computers Was The?
Trivia
EasyThe Only Other Animal In The Giraffidae Family Besides The Giraffe Is The?
Trivia
HardThe Largest Manta Ray Sanctuary In The World Is Located In?
Trivia
HardThe “A113” Easter Egg That Appears In Every Pixar Movie Is A Reference To?
Trivia
HardWhich Country Has The Largest Tiger Population?