Researchers developed a video game that rewards players for solving the scientifically puzzles surrounding protein folding. It was called Fold It. Now, what made this more remarkable is that two groups of computer gamers had solved the problem in three weeks!
You see in the world of proteins, shape is everything. It is exceptionally difficult to design a computer to analyze and solve problems in 3D. Luckily, people are very good at 3-D pattern recognition.
There are other cases where scientists are enlisting the help of humans to solve problems humans can't. One of these is Planet Hunters, which began last December. As the website explains "the human brain is particularly good at discerning patterns or aberrations." Since the inception of Planet Hunters, volunteers have classified light curves that would take one person 60 years to process.
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