Hey, video game haters out there, listen up. You probably thought that 30-year-old “kid” living in your neighbor’s basement playing non-stop video games was a slouch, right? For that matter you might even be worried that someone in your own family may be succumbing to that button-mashing siren’s call. Well, I’ve got some news for you.
Right now … in their basement or study … concentrating intently on that computer screen … those video game-playing guys or gals may be … Saving The World!
Or not. But it’s possible.
An article from the Los Angeles Times that I spotted recently addressed a scientific study published in the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. And it talked about how a team of video game players are besting big supercomputers and solving some pretty daunting medical problems. They’ve been playing an online game called Foldit, one of a number of games aimed at making a fun activity out of manipulating various molecular structures and finding the right ones to create a curative enzyme.
I won’t bore you with all the technical jargon (especially since I don’t really understand it myself), but the bottom line is that by putting these puzzling combos in a game form and handing it over to gamers, scientist have been able to make some breakthroughs on problems that have stumped them for at least 10 years. And the group of experienced and novice gamers discovered the right structure for that extra-special enzyme in ten days! (Well, it was actually closer to three weeks, but you get the point.)
The really amazing part is that—just through the brain power of puzzle-solving video game lovers—the discovered enzyme and protein matchups could very well be the keys to finding cures to Alzheimer’s disease, some forms of cancer and even AIDS. Hey, that beats a World of Warcraft quest any day.
And if you want to try the Foldit game for yourself, just click here.
Recent Comments