Fold It!

[headprogrammingczar]

http://fold.it
Anyone else tried this yet? I created a group for xkcd in case anyone interested is not already tied to a university group.
Join now, and play games for science!

[CogDissident]

Its interesting, but the tutorial is poorly explained for exactly what they're looking for.

Gameplay is simple, but does seem to find a good semi-optimal organization for more chains.

[headprogrammingczar]

I also forgot to mention that the game is registered for CASP, the annual protein folding competition. I can't find where I read this, but also entered in the competition is the IBM computer Blue Gene. While the individual solutions per player are not quite optimal, they are pretty close, and with enough people, many of which are professional biologists, a lot more proteins can be solved to the point that computers can take over without running for the age of the universe. As of this post, there are about 20,000 people registered, and almost every group on the site is named after a university.

[Nimz]

This entertained me maybe a little too much:

xkcd ( Global Rank: #1337 | Members: 1 | Join this Group )

It's on page 23 after hitting the groups link. I didn't see a convenient search for group button anywhere.

[tdc]

Joined you guys, and through sheer luck I present:

Name: CASP Practice 1-2: Fibronectin
[..]
Top Groups
Rank Group Score Points
1 xkcd 9,593 0
[..]

Yay!

edit: Aaaand I've been trumped.

[Turtle_]

I joined. Now I just have to figure out how to get the game to start...

[Claan22]

I joined.

I don't fully understand the game yet, but it's fun, and if it is helping science somehow then I'll do it.

[Sartorius]

I joined. I keep getting a 404 when I try to log in through the game. I prolly missed something obvious that I should've done. Any suggestions?

[Puzzlet Chung]

I joined. I keep getting a 404 when I try to log in through the game. I prolly missed something obvious that I should've done. Any suggestions?

I get 404 too, but it eventually succeeds when after I keep retrying.

Maybe it's the server's problem I guess?

[Sartorius]

Thanks, the retrying worked!

[e946]

It seems like a good strategy when trying to edge your points upwards is to move the backbone to create clashes, then shaking, then wiggling.

[Sartorius]

I definitely agree. I always shake and wiggle after I move something.

[nsmjohn]

I created an account and subscribed, I will download the "game" when I get home from work.

[headprogrammingczar]

Another few tips, hydrogen bonds are crazy-powerful. Make as many of those as you can first, then lock the sheets. Also, remember your hydrophobics on molecules that have them. It is easy to forget. The best tip of them all is, if a connector chain is in an awkward shape, you can fix the shape by putting multiple bands into free space at strategic points, then wiggling. Also, does anyone know how to untwist sheets? Somehow mine curl up and can't bond with anything.

[brook_88]

And I'll present....

Top Groups
Rank Group Score Points
1 xkcd 8,236

[brook_88]

Done

[tdc]

Whenever you have the best team score in something, post your file to the sharing interface.

Collaboration ftw!

[Scigatt]

I subscribed to the group, but I'm not on the team yet.

[v1ND]

I subscribed as well to the group, how do I become part of the team though?

Very addictive game.

EDIT: Nevermind, you just have to reopen the program.

[Sartorius]

Anyone else having trouble logging in today?

[Kasperl]

Tried it, seems fun, but it wouldn't go online due to some certificate error, and I couldn't find a *nix version, so I won't use it after a few weeks, when my last Windows system will leave me.

[gringer]

Just in case you've been holding back, there's now a Linux client:

http://fold.it/portal/files/app/Foldit.tar.gz [53MB]

The xkcd group was at #1 for puzzle 103 a few hours ago. There seems to be a problem with the server at the moment though, so I can't verify if that still stands. If you join a group, you can download solutions uploaded by other members and evolve them to make a better protein.

[OverBored]

I'm trying, but barely coping with the tutorial levels

[Bozonik]

Nice work on the recent puzzles all, xkcd is climbing up the ranks. Looks like we're going to win Puzzle 103 thanks to gringer's great start on it a few days ago!

Foldit was featured in a big New Scientist article this week btw, documented here: http://fold.it/portal/node/554586

PS. the wiki on foldit is pretty helpful if you're struggling to get going, or failing that just ask questions in chat - people are normally pretty helpful

[gringer]

I've made a picture that could go on the group page (a derivative work of comic #262):


reminder: keep the black hat guy away from your cats. He might try to fold them

[Bozonik]

Hehe, that'd be cool gringer. The guy in charge of the group doesn't seem to be playing any more though in which case we may be stuck.

[LordCleverpork]

I just started using this today, pretty sweet stuff. I started in the turkey <15 section and got pretty high. just recently I switched to the regular turkey and can't get my 9200.

Someone should talk to headprogrammerczar and maybe take control of the group or share control. I'm sure it is possible.

But anyway, I am impressed with you guys as well, good work gringer on being ranked 20!

[The_Beige_Volvo]

This is cool. So cool, in fact, that it is my job. No way I'm doing this in my spare time though!
Now everyone help Vijay by buying a PS3!!

[EDIT] err just thought that non protein-biophysicists might have wondered what I was on about so I'll post a link to Vijay Pande and Folding@home and the PS3 details. (Which I love! )

[Migi]

CASP 9 has recently started, so it made me take this game from under the layer of dust it's been gathering since last year. After it finished updating, I was surprised to see how much development was done in one year. Among many other new stuff, they made a feature called "recipes", which are Lua scripts that you can write to play the game for you, and I can tell you one thing:

They're awesome!

I'm thinking of writing some machine-learning AI that should get me up in the highscores in no time while all I have to do is watch.

[Ayelis]

I just brought the group up to 6th place from 10th on the Lets Cure Cancer Finally contest.

You're welcome!