A really engaging Wired article about Foldit, the protein folding game designed by David Baker, Zoran Popovic, David Salesin, and their collaborators.
“More than 100,000 people have downloaded Foldit since last summer, turning the game into massively multiplayer competition – global online molecular speed origami …
“Baker’s lab is developing targets for cancer, AIDS, and Alzheimer’s, and the folders’ task is to build a small protein drug with the right shape and binding properties. This isn’t just an intellectual exercise. Baker says he will synthesize the most promising structures and test them in his lab. These proteins could actually have therapeutic value in the real world, outside the game. And if they do, the Foldit players will share the credit. It might be the first time that a computer game’s high score is a Nobel Prize.”
Read the article here!