The untapped mind power of a determined gamer is a powerful thing indeed. The creativity that gamers display trying to beat a game has solved one of the most difficult problems that have confounded scientists and researchers for years.
Foldit, a collaborative online game that is designed to allow players to manipulate virtual molecular structures which follow real life rules, to find the more elegant structures of proteins and enzymes have in Mother Nature. Players of the game have managed to solve and find the detailed structure of an enzyme of an AIDS-like virus found in rhesus monkeys.
The human brain is still the best resources for figuring out problems that supercomputers cannot handle. And the best way to get a lot of human brain power working on a problem is crowd-sourcing. Basically, a problem and data is put online on the internet for other people, not necessarily experts to work on. Though they may not be experts in the field, if the rules are explained to them, they can easily do the job. This allows for much more rapid development in science, allowing us to progress much faster on these problems that scientists face today.
This definitely shows the capability of the internet as a tool for progress in science.
In this day and age, many opportunities and information is on the Internet. But not everyone has access to internet at home. In an effort to help bridge the digital divide, Comcast is offering lower rates for broadband for low-income families to help bridge the digital divide.
The new program, called "Internet Essentials", offers high speed internet that would normally cost around $50 a month, at $9.95 a month. Only low income families are eligible for this, and Comcast also provides coupons for people who cannot afford a computer to get one for $150.
The Internet is a really useful resource for students and the public alike. And to have access to those opportunities and information will help people to stay up-to-date with the progress that our community has made oer the years. Who knows, maybe one of the people who get internet access through these programs will solve the next big problem in science, by participating in these sorts of crowd-sourcing programs on the internet.
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