Fold It!

Boy, I feel like the Internet is just on a roll with providing cool science things today.  First I found WorldWide Telescope (see previous post) and now Discovery News points me to FoldIt.  FoldIt is an online game in which players fold and manipulate proteins to solve puzzles.  I think the coolest thing about FoldIt is that it presents the possibility of solving some actually scientific challenges.  The proteins in the game are all real proteins and the problems are all real problems.  This just seems really cool and innovative.  People like puzzles and many of the challenges that modern science faces are nothing more than complex puzzles.  I wonder if FoldIt experiences some good success if other branches of science will try and follow with their own versions of puzzle games.  Think of how cool it would be to play a nano-material synthesizing game!

WorldWide Telescope

What is the coolest discovery online today?  Try Microsoft’s WorldWide Telescope!  Picture something that is pretty similar to Google Earth but instead of looking down on Earth this application it is looking up from our planet and out into the vast cosmos.  I first became aware of WorldWide Telescope this morning while scouring the Internet for good press releases to put up on GSATC.  Reading Microsoft’s press release for the beta launch and then checking out the actual WorldWide Telescope website got me really excited.  I’ve downloaded the free program and played around with it some already and it is great.  Even if you are not a space enthusiast this is a really fun application to explore.  The images are dazzling and the interface is relatively easy.  I can be pretty critical of Microsoft a lot of times but when they put out something like this I have to give them big thumbs up.  WorldWide Telescope rocks!  Check it out!