On-Line Gamers Solve Decade-Long Unsolvable Structure of Enzyme in 3 Weeks

On September 21, 2011September 19, 2011 By A.P.In games, ScienceLeave a comment

Foldit, an online game put together by the University of Washington’s computer science and biochemistry departments, was launched in 2008 as an attempt to leverage the ingenuity and spatial reasoning skills of gamers to help solve scientific problems. Recently, players of the game have helped discover the structure of an enzyme which could prove a significant step forward in the treatment and cure of retroviral diseases and even AIDS.

“We wanted to see if human intuition could succeed where automated methods had failed,” said Firas Khatib of the University of Washington’s biochemistry lab. “The ingenuity of game players is a formidable force that, if properly directed, can be used to solve a wide range of scientific problems.”

“People have spational reasoning skills, something computers are not yet good at,” added co-creator of Foldit Seth Cooper. “Games provide a framework for bringing together the strengths of computers and humans. The results show that gaming, science and computation can be combined to make advances that were not possible before.”

The structure of the enzyme in question had stumped scientists for over a decade, but Foldit players managed to model it together in just three weeks. The discovery will greatly assist in the research and development of drugs to treat retroviral conditions such as HIV, which leads to the onset of AIDS — a condition for which there is still no cure.

“The critical role of Foldit players in the solution of [this problem] shows the power of online games to channel human intuition and three-dimensional pattern-matching skills to solve challenging scientific problems,” wrote representatives of the University of Washington in a full report on the discovery. “Although much attention has recently been given to the potential of crowdsourcing and game playing, this is the first instance that we are aware of in which online gamers solved a longstanding scientific problem. These results indicate the potential for integrating video games into the real-world scientific process.”

The Foldit team also says there are two other discoveries which players of the game have contributed to, and are preparing to release these in the near future.

http://news.yahoo.com/online-gamers-crack-aids-enzyme-puzzle-175427367.html

Chinese Couple Sells Their Children for Online Gaming

On August 18, 2011August 18, 2011 By A.P.In Crime, gamesLeave a comment

Chinese couple Li Lin and Li Juan has been apprehended by authorities after, yes, selling their three children to pay for online games.

The couple, who reportedly met at an internet cafe in 2007, bonded over their love for online gaming, and a year later had their first child, a baby boy. In 2009 they “welcomed” their second child, a baby girl, shortly thereafter deciding to sell her to support their online gaming habit. They did so, and earned RMB 3,000 — a little under $500 — later selling their firstborn child for ten times that, at RMB 30,000 (about $4600). They later had another baby boy, and sold him at the same price.

Upon their arrest, the couple claimed that they were unaware that it was illegal to sell their children for throwaway gaming funds. When asked if they’d miss their children, they responded, “We don’t want to raise them, we just want to sell them for some money.”

http://www.gamepro.com/article/news/221445/chinese-couple-sells-their-kids-for-online-gaming-money/

14 year old Robert Nay’s Bubble Ball.

On June 2, 2011June 3, 2011 By A.P.In Cell Phone, Child Geniuses, games, Popular Culture, Technology2 Comments

An iPhone physics-based puzzle game designed by 14-year-old Utah 8th grader Robert Nay has been downloaded more than 2 million times since its release Dec 29th.

He programmed it in 6 weeks at the public library.

It’s about moving a small blue ball from one side of the screen to the other by navigating shrewdly crafted obstacle fields of metal and wood.

[youtbe=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU6kL9TwtAs&feature=related]

Pac-mecium

On May 8, 2011March 31, 2011 By A.P.In games, Science, TechnologyLeave a comment

Scientists have made Pac-Man using paramecium, in which movement of the microorganisms is controlled with a joystick while a digital microscope relays images to a computer screen. The joystick is connected to a controller that controls the polarity of a mild electrical field applied across the fluid chamber, which influences the direction in which the paramecia move.