How clever is this?

Online gamers crack enzyme riddle
Online gamers have achieved a feat beyond the realm of Second Life or World of Warcraft: they have deciphered the structure of an enzyme of an AIDS-like virus that had thwarted scientists for a decade.

SNIP

Their target was a monomeric protease enzyme, a cutting agent in the complex molecular tailoring of retroviruses, a family that includes HIV.

Figuring out the structure of proteins is vital for understanding the causes of many diseases and developing drugs to block them.

But a microscope gives only a flat image of what to the outsider looks like a plate of one-dimensional scrunched-up spaghetti. Pharmacologists need a 3-D picture that "unfolds" the molecule and rotates it in order to reveal potential targets for drugs.

This is where Foldit comes in.

Developed in 2008 by the University of Washington, it is a 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.

To the astonishment of the scientists, the gamers produced an accurate model of the enzyme in just three weeks.

footfootfoot;757130 wrote:

Not surprising at all to me and a perfect example of how the entitled view themselves as superior to those who aren't given the same opportunities as themselves®.

Hurrah for the gamers.

grynch;757131 wrote:

WTF?

who are "the entitled" ... the scientists? ... do you know alot of scientists?...

ok, there are people who have had privileges, but there are also many ordinary people just slogging it out

footfootfoot;757143 wrote:

I'm not really sure what I'm trying to say here..

footfootfoot wrote:

I'm not really sure what I'm trying to say here. I have quit coffee a few days ago and I think my Lyme disease is back, but I promise you, I have a good idea in there and I will ferret it out and make it clear. And yes, I do know a fair number of docs, lawyers, and scientists, the majority of whom had enough money to go to college and get advanced degrees.

It's a long story. Just take my word for it.

Clodfobble;757158 wrote:

Maybe what you mean is not the entitled, but the highly-formally-educated who look down on those who don't have the same degrees as they do, even though the un-degreed may be just as smart or smarter than the guy who has the piece of paper to prove it?

footfootfoot;757183 wrote:

I knew you would be able to explain this. You truly have a gift, cf.

My mind has a crush on your mind.

footfootfoot wrote:

I knew you would be able to explain this. You truly have a gift, cf.

My mind has a crush on your mind.

By creating a small electrical field that removes salts from seawater,
chemists at The University of Texas at Austin and the University of Marburg in Germany
have introduced a new method for the desalination of seawater that consumes less energy
and is dramatically simpler than conventional techniques.

The new method requires so little energy that it can run on a store-bought battery.
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footfootfoot;757183 wrote:

My mind has a crush on your mind.

Over 1.1 kilometers of a specially designed optical fiber that minimizes mode coupling, we achieved 400-gigabits-per-second data transmission using four angular momentum modes at a single wavelength, and 1.6 terabits per second using two OAM modes over 10 wavelengths.

Chemists Work to Desalt the Ocean for Drinking Water, One Nanoliter at a Time
...
The new method requires so little energy that it can run on a store-bought battery.

Lamplighter;869401 wrote:

You just re-invented the dipping duck ... perpetual motion toy.

squirell nutkin;869402 wrote:

:D
Wait until you see my latest, I call it "the wheel"

The current T2K collaboration consists of over 400 physicists from 59 institutions in 11 countries.
The U.S. T2K collaborating team consists of approximately 70 members
and is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science.

The U.S. groups have built super-conducting corrector magnets,
proton beam monitor electronics, the second neutrino horn and a
GPS time synchronization system for the T2K neutrino beamline;
and a pi-zero detector and a side muon range detector (partial detector)
in the T2K near detector complex. They are also part of the team that built,
upgraded and operates the Super-Kamiokande detector.

ZenGum;869412 wrote:

Only an MBA would try to cut corners like that.