Gaming and Scientific Discovery

From Science News:

OK, gaming in libraries fans might love ths article about some research reported in Nature:

World of proteincraft
Players of online computer game solve scientific puzzles

By Rachel Ehrenberg
Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

“Compared to slaying dragons or building civilizations, figuring out the shape of a protein doesn’t sound particularly thrilling. But turn the task into an online game, replete with the competition and camaraderie of “World of Warcraft,” and the masses will come.

More than 57,000 people, many of them nonscientists, got involved in Foldit, a game geared towards solving the puzzle of protein structure, researchers report in the Aug. 5 Nature. And several top-ranked players outdid state-of-the-art computer algorithms that tackle the same tasks. The project suggests that online games tapping into the wisdom of crowds may be a fruitful approach to scientific challenges.”

S. Cooper et al. Predicting protein structures with a multiplayer online game. Nature. Vol. 466, August 5, 2010, p. 756. doi:10.1038/nature09304

It is great to have a bulletin board and link-worthy article about the latest in how gaming strategies support discovery and learning. W00t!

Stephen
(There’s a reason my 20 year old cat is named Zelda!)