Gamers help cure AIDS

[Keld Denar]

Yay! We're doing something right! (http://games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged-in/online-gamers-crack-aids-enzyme-puzzle-161920724.html)

Really interesting. Leave it to a gamer to not sleep until he's figured out how to beat the next level of the stupid puzzle game thats really got him stumped...

[Ranger Mattos]

That's awesome. Go gamers!

[Lady Moreta]

The page won't load :smallfrown: what's the article actually about?

[Nix Nihila]

The page won't load :smallfrown: what's the article actually about?

Basically gamers produced an accurate model of an enzyme that wasn't previously understood through a game which involves unraveling proteins. It appears as if this could be beneficial in understanding how the AIDS virus works, but I'm not well informed in this area, unfortunately, so I'm not sure exactly what this means.

[Lady Moreta]

That is awesome :smallbiggrin:

Gamers rock :smallbiggrin:

[Coidzor]

Be neat if there were more things like that done, yeah.

[Lord Raziere]

Quick, we need to apply obsessive gamer playing to a game that works like real life, maybe if they play enough levels they will figure something out that we missed since we live in it.

[pendell]

Seen in scienceblog (http://scienceblog.com/47894/gamers-succeed-where-scientists-fail/)



Gamers have solved the structure of a retrovirus enzyme whose configuration had stumped scientists for more than a decade. The gamers achieved their discovery by playing Foldit, an online game that allows players to collaborate and compete in predicting the structure of protein molecules.

After scientists repeatedly failed to piece together the structure of a protein-cutting enzyme from an AIDS-like virus, they called in the Foldit players. The scientists challenged the gamers to produce an accurate model of the enzyme. They did it in only three weeks.

This class of enzymes, called retroviral proteases, has a critical role in how the AIDS virus matures and proliferates. Intensive research is under way to try to find anti-AIDS drugs that can block these enzymes, but efforts were hampered by not knowing exactly what the retroviral protease molecule looks like.


So score one for the gaming community.And in the fight against AIDS no less. Now if we can find some way to reduce that pesky anthropogenic global warming problem to a game ...

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[DeadManSleeping]

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=215962

[DeadManSleeping]

Quick, we need to apply obsessive gamer playing to a game that works like real life, maybe if they play enough levels they will figure something out that we missed since we live in it.

Why do you think they're still trying to make Sims games more complex? :smallconfused:

[Eldan]

Now, I haven't read the actual paper, only this online article, but how exactly did they confirm that gamers had the right structure, as opposed to just "a possible structure"? I mean, I know Foldit. It does predictions and models, not much more.

[Threeshades]

Too bad it wasn't Call of Duty or World of Warcraft that produced these results. :smalltongue:

[stopwatch]

Yeah, my brother told me about this. Now go and laugh at your parents for saying video games would get us nowhere! :smallbiggrin:

[KerfuffleMach2]

Now, I haven't read the actual paper, only this online article, but how exactly did they confirm that gamers had the right structure, as opposed to just "a possible structure"? I mean, I know Foldit. It does predictions and models, not much more.

If I remember right, it said that they made enough of a model for them to test its accuracy, based on what they already knew about the enzyme.

When science fails, gaming prevails!

[Douglas]

Too bad it wasn't Call of Duty or World of Warcraft that produced these results. :smalltongue:
I remember something about WoW having an amazingly realistic plague going around a while back that a bunch of scientists were interested in studying. It started as a special attack of some new boss monster as I recall, with contagion from one player to others nearby as a unique new mechanic for it, and somebody goofed on the restrictions that were supposed to prevent it from leaving the boss's area. Someone took it out to the world at large, whether deliberately or by accident I have no idea, and it spread to become a world-wide plague in the game.

[Suicidal Charge]

I remember something about WoW having an amazingly realistic plague going around a while back that a bunch of scientists were interested in studying. It started as a special attack of some new boss monster as I recall, with contagion from one player to others nearby as a unique new mechanic for it, and somebody goofed on the restrictions that were supposed to prevent it from leaving the boss's area. Someone took it out to the world at large, whether deliberately or by accident I have no idea, and it spread to become a world-wide plague in the game.


Wikipedia has an article on it (https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Corrupted_Blood_incident).

[Keld Denar]

Funny story...I saw this linked to a friend on facebook, and my first thought was: "Dang, I better post this on Friendly Banter before Brian P does."

EDIT: This should probably be merged...if nobody's opened a ticket, I'll toss one up now.

[grimbold]

Yeah, my brother told me about this. Now go and laugh at your parents for saying video games would get us nowhere! :smallbiggrin:

my mom showed this to me first and she turned to me and said
"well I suppose those games are good for something"
XD

[Yrcrazypa]

I remember something about WoW having an amazingly realistic plague going around a while back that a bunch of scientists were interested in studying.

I played when that happened, though it wasn't quite so bad on my server. It was HILARIOUS though. There were also similar incidents where someone would instead get a pet to have a debuff that turns them into a living bomb, dismiss it, and then summon it into crowded areas, if memory serves.

But we should be a bit more realistic here, this isn't AIDS, it's just something very similar. It will help, surely, but it's only a small step in taking care of the problem.