Didn't see this posted anywhere so I figured I'd give everyone the heads up. It's always nice to see good news and good news about the gaming community is even better. Link and quick synopsis of quotes below.
http://news.yahoo.com/online-gamers-crack-aids-enzyme-puzzle-175427367.html
http://news.yahoo.com/online-gamers-crack-aids-enzyme-puzzle-175427367.html
Online gamers have achieved a feat beyond the realm of Second Life or Dungeons and Dragons: they have deciphered the structure of an enzyme of an AIDS-like virus that had thwarted scientists for a decade.
The exploit is published on Sunday in the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, where -- exceptionally in scientific publishing -- both gamers and researchers are honoured as co-authors...
Figuring out the structure of proteins is vital for understanding the causes of many diseases and developing drugs to block them. This is where Foldit comes in.
Developed in 2008 by the University of Washington, it is a fun-for-purpose video game in which gamers, divided into competing groups, compete to unfold chains of amino acids -- the building blocks of proteins -- using a set of online tools.