24 replies to this topic

[maestro949]

A group associated with David Baker (BOINC Protein Folding project) has developed a protein folding game that is now open for beta. Basically you move protein parts around looking for the optimal molecular configuration and hopefully, find the configuration that the protein would fold up to within the cell after being transcribed.

They need more beta testers so please go sign up and provide feedback, or... advertise this project if you have a blog or other channel. This would be a perfect topic for many of the geekier podcasts, Digg, etc.

Instead of doing my schoolwork the past two nights I puttered around with the game. Getting going is tough at first but not too bad if you watch the video a couple of times. One of the key challenges with such a game is finding a way to make it enjoyable and incrementally challenging. Right now it scores fairly low on the enjoyability and ridiculously high on the challenging side as getting a protein folded to a basic state isn't too hard but you usually hit what seems like an impenetrable ceiling pretty quickly which leads to frustration - not something you want too much of in a video game.

Click here to watch the FoldIt! Video


Edit by Live Forever: Link to game site (downloads, science, etc.)

Edited by Live Forever, 03 January 2009 - 07:42 AM.

[John Schloendorn]

Here's one to cheer you up: Why are proteins good at poker? Because they know when to fold!

[A941]

Is this one of these things humans can do better than computers or is it a game just for fun with no deeper thougts behind it?

[s123]

I tried to sign up but I get 'Access denied' when I want to create a new account. Why?

[maestro949]

One thing that might be possible with this game is achieving ... The Tetris Effect

The Tetris effect is the ability of any activity to which people devote sufficient time and attention to begin to dominate their thoughts, mental images, and dreams. It is named after the video game Tetris. In the game a player rotates and moves different falling shapes made up of blocks. If the player can arrange the shapes so there are complete horizontal lines of blocks without any gaps, those lines are eliminated. The object of the game is to eliminate as many lines as possible before the shapes fill the screen.

People who play Tetris for a long time might then find themselves thinking about ways different shapes in the real world can fit together, such as the boxes on a supermarket shelf or the buildings on a street.[1] In this sense, the Tetris effect is a form of habit.

They might also see images of falling Tetris shapes at the edges of their visual fields or when they close their eyes.[1] In this sense, the Tetris effect is a form of hallucination.

They might also dream about falling Tetris shapes when drifting off to sleep.[2] In this sense, the Tetris effect is a form of hypnagogic imagery.

Why are proteins good at poker? Because they know when to fold!

heh, good one.

Is this one of these things humans can do better than computers or is it a game just for fun with no deeper thougts behind it?

No computer algorithm to date has successfully predicted anything beyond a simple protein fold in any reasonable amount of time. It still remains one of the grand challenges of biology. If humans can figure out how to spot recurring folding patterns, these insights could be churned into computer algorithm.

I tried to sign up but I get 'Access denied' when I want to create a new account. Why?

Perhaps try again now. They had quite a few issues at first but I've noticed several improvements since the first couple of weeks. They've added some easier levels to get started too.


Link to website: Fold It!

Edited by maestro949, 01 March 2008 - 09:11 PM.

[ihatesnow]

http://fold.it/portal/adobe_main

[ihatesnow]

check out this protein folding game http://fold.it/portal/adobe_main

[ihatesnow]

http://www.scienceda...80508122520.htm

Link to Game: http://fold.it/portal/adobe_main

Edited by maestro949, 10 July 2008 - 10:37 AM.
cleaned up title, added link to site

[maestro949]

http://www.scienceda...80508122520.htm

Is this any different than the protein folding game you posted here?

http://www.imminst.o...showtopic=22472

You should just add to the same thread if you are posting duplicate news items.

So have you played it ihatesnow? If so, what are your thoughts on it and it's potential?

[ihatesnow]

http://www.scienceda...80508122520.htm

Is this any different than the protein folding game you posted here?

http://www.imminst.o...showtopic=22472

You should just add to the same thread if you are posting duplicate news items.

So have you played it ihatesnow? If so, what are your thoughts on it and it's potential?

i have played it for only 20-30 minutes.....as for its potential it looks like it has a lot look who supports it ...The research is funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Microsoft Corp. and Adobe Systems Inc., and through fellowships at Nvidia Corp. and Intel Corp.

http://www.scienceda...80508122520.htm

Is this any different than the protein folding game you posted here? its the same game

http://www.imminst.o...showtopic=22472

You should just add to the same thread if you are posting duplicate news items.

So have you played it ihatesnow? If so, what are your thoughts on it and it's potential?

[elwalvador]

Wholly shit, this is amazing. I am going to download this immidiately and put my 12 year old brother on it. I'm going to have to cancel his Halo 3 account.

Nah but seriously, I'm going to download this and tell you guys what I think about it.

[elwalvador]

ok just downloaded it. it only took 6 minutes with a wireless cable connection. Only 41 megabites. Now I'll figure out how to play it

[maestro949]

Let me know what you think of it. I was a bit disappointed with the current versions of the game. I felt that the combination of "not that fun" and "too hard" would limit the player base to students taking molecular dynamics or comp sci courses and such. There's still potential there and the concept is spot on but they need to find a way to ease into the difficulty better and introduce some elements that can hold the player's interest. Perhaps a gaming companies with some creative gameplay talent and deep pockets could invest some time in evolving the concept.

[elwalvador]

My laptop is to slow to play the game, the "wiggle the backbone" feture takes forever. And it's not fun to play either.

[lucid]

Really fun I am enjoying playing it. Still on the learning curve atm though.

[maestro949]

What aspect do you find fun lucid? The challenge? The learning about things like hydrophobicity, etc?

[lucid]

Well. Its a fun problem solving little game. It certainly gives some very visceral appreciation for how complex proteins are. I believe once I understand all of the color labeling, trying to compete in the competitions will entertain me for a bit.

[maestro949]

Well. Its a fun problem solving little game. It certainly gives some very visceral appreciation for how complex proteins are.

Indeed. It's quite fascinating how 30,000 types of these little strands fold up into certain shapes and then just bump into each other to produce a human.

I believe once I understand all of the color labeling, trying to compete in the competitions will entertain me for a bit.

Either that or it'll drive you totally insane. Which may not be a bad thing. Maybe you'll keep looking at this problem for the rest of your life and actually solve it

[ihatesnow]

computer game
http://www.scienceda...80508122520.htm

(edited by Matthias: threads 24414 & 19518 merged)

Edited by Matthias, 21 September 2008 - 09:28 PM.

[JLL]

Very cool.

[Live Forever]

It doesn't have to do with the Folding@Home team per se, but I thought this was interesting. Hopefully it hasn't been posted yet.

A team of researchers at the University of Washington have created a game called Fold.it, which turns the process of determining the ideal shape of a protein into a grand puzzle game. Fold.it is useful because even very powerful computers have difficulty determining the shape of a protein. Human beings, with our spatial awareness and puzzle-solving skills, are better suited for the job. Fold.it has attracted a wide variety of players, many of whom are not biologists but who simply enjoy the challenges inherent to the game.


Fold.it screenshot

http://fold.it

[Live Forever]

For more info on how the game works and why it is important, see:
http://fold.it/portal/info/science

[brokenportal]

This is an amazing concept. I was under the impression that proteins folds were so complex that it would be like trying to look at a messed up rubics cube and imagine the whole solution all at once, but reading through this game its lending me great optimism. Demystifying of things that can help sens certainly lends more optimism to such a grave situation. ..and besides the pro aging trance it will help in the cracking of the 'anti science can do it trance.'

[Live Forever]

This is an amazing concept. I was under the impression that proteins folds were so complex that it would be like trying to look at a messed up rubics cube and imagine the whole solution all at once, but reading through this game its lending me great optimism. Demystifying of things that can help sens certainly lends more optimism to such a grave situation. ..and besides the pro aging trance it will help in the cracking of the 'anti science can do it trance.'

Yes, it is amazing that humans could accomplish some things to do with folding better than current computers.

[Prometheus]

Excellent game - the induction process is quite challenging but more important its very educational. You will learn more on protein folding dynamics playing this game for 30 minutes than a half-dozen lectures. Kids should love it too. All they need to do is get an iPhone version!