How online gamers helped scientists solve tough problems

Day 211 / 365

If someone accuses you of wasting your time on video games, point them to this article. While one gamer might not amount too much, a lot of gamers together can achieve a lot, as a few scientists found out a few years back.

Back in 2014, Scientists were stuck on a problem where they needed to determine the structure of a particular enzyme that causes an AIDS-like disease in monkeys. They had been working on this for 13 years but hadn’t made much progress.

They came up with the innovative idea to gamify this problem. They created an online game called Foldit, which was like a puzzle game on protein folding. The gamers that played it were able to solve the problem in 3 weeks!

And this is not just a one of case. Gamers have proven effective in the field of astronomy as well. People who played the game Planet Hunters online were able to identify 40 planets that might be able to support life. These planets have been missed previously by highly skilled programmers.

The reason why such experiments work is that our brains are incredible in recognizing patterns. Even though the gamers might not have any theoretical, knowledge about the problem they are solving, they have a non zero chance of solving it by pattern recognition alone. And the gamification gives the added incentive to solve a problem.

This post is part of my 365 Day Project for 2019. Read about it here

Yesterday’s blog — The Tragedy of good luck