protein folding

Ten years ago, my computer had a lot of junk on it. There was Napster, of course; Snood, which almost caused me to fail out of high school; and a weird screensaver that promised to find some aliens.

Tired of car chases, robberies, and general action-packed anarchy? Set aside Grand Theft Auto IV for a minute and enter a new kind of gaming adventure: the exciting world of protein folding! Researchers at Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the University of Washington have developed Foldit, a free, online game in which players compete to design proteins.