Group items tagged

Foldit was founded by the University of Washington Center for Game Science in collaboration with the Baker lab. In the last decade, scientists repeatedly failed to find a solution to the structure of a protein-cutting enzyme from an AIDS-like virus. The scientists have decided to collect a group of gamers and challenged them to produce an accurate model of the enzyme: users are tasked with folding known proteins and are scored on how well they manage to accomplish this task while taking into consideration the physical properties of the molecule. In less then ten days, the gamers came up with the desired solution.

We introduce Peekaboom, an entertaining web-based game that can help computers locate objects in images. People play the game because of its entertainment value, and as a side effect of them playing, we collect valuable image metadata, such as which pixels belong to which object in the image. The collected data could be applied towards constructing more accurate computer vision algorithms, which require massive amounts of training and testing data not currently available. Peekaboom has been played by thousands of people, some of whom have spent over 12 hours a day playing, and thus far has generated millions of data points. In addition to its purely utilitarian aspect, Peekaboom is an example of a new, emerging class of games, which not only bring people together for leisure purposes, but also exist to improve artificial intelligence. Such games appeal to a general audience, while providing answers to problems that computers cannot yet solve.

Monday, January 23, 2012 Computer Games for CrowdsourcingScientific Research Do you like computer games?If yes, here you have two options to play and at the same timecontribute to genetic and biotechnology research: phylo It looks like a game, but it is a tool to improve multiple sequencealignments of DNA regions that may be linked to various geneticdisorders. Sequence alignment is a way of identifying regions of similarity that may be consequence of functional, structural orevolutionary relationship between the sequences. This alignment isusually done with the aid of computer algorithms, however they do notguarantee a global optimization as it will take a prohibitively expensivecomputational power to achieve it.

Since Google Earth hit the Web in 2005, besides instantly turning all office desk globes into decorative accessories, it has opened the world up to global exploration at the click of a mouse. But it's not just a neat toy; some extraordinary things have been discovered with its one-click access to satellite imagery.

LHC@home is a platform for volunteers to help physicists develop and exploit particle accelerators like CERN's Large Hadron Collider, and to compare theory with experiment in the search for new fundamental particles. By contributing spare processing capacity on their home and laptop computers, volunteers may run simulations of beam dynamics and particle collisions in the LHC's giant detectors

A real-time, online checklist program, eBird has revolutionized the way that the birding community reports and accesses information about birds. Launched in 2002 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, eBird provides rich data sources for basic information on bird abundance and distribution at a variety of spatial and temporal scales. eBird's goal is to maximize the utility and accessibility of the vast numbers of bird observations made each year by recreational and professional bird watchers. It is amassing one of the largest and fastest growing biodiversity data resources in existence.

In an effort to secure mass-collaboration, the company has launched a $7 million competition to reward talented minds for their potential contribution in perfecting the Personal Genome Machine sequencer that the company has developed. The machine relies on semi-conductor technology and has the capability of transforming chemical data into digital information. It is the first of its kind in the world and creative minds can enter the Grand Challenges Contest.

distributed-computing projects in which volunteers download a small piece of software and let their home computers do some extracurricular work when the machines would otherwise be idle (after Nature article of Eric Hand)

Beginning in 2006, NASA's Stardust@home citizen science project allows anyone with Internet access to help in the search for the first samples of solid matter from outside the solar system. To learn more, including how to participate, please click on the About tab above or on any of the links below under "More Information." Then join the search by following the Get Started steps found to the left of this page; or after registering, read the latest Stardust@home news in our blog below. We look forwarded to working with you on this exciting research!

Beginning in 2006, NASA's Stardust@home citizen science project allows anyone with Internet access to help in the search for the first samples of solid matter from outside the solar system. To learn more, including how to participate, please click on the About tab above or on any of the links below under "More Information."

SETI@home is a scientific experiment that uses Internet-connected computers in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). You can participate by running a free program that downloads and analyzes radio telescope data

a blog reporting daily findings from the lab

The Third Reviewer is a forum for scientists to share opinions about recently published research. It's like journal club, but... Faster. No need to set aside an hour of your time. Convenient. Check in from home or at lab, at 5 a.m. or 10 p.m. Comprehensive.

The core service of Faculty of 1000 (F1000) identifies and evaluates the most important articles in biology and medical research publications. The selection process comprises a peer-nominated global 'Faculty' of the world's leading scientists and clinicians who rate the best of the articles they read and explain their importance.

add to favorites home Edit 20 163… ONS-ACI.png UsefulChem Project This is an Open Notebook Science project in chemistry led by the Bradley Laboratory at Drexel University.

Help researchers find new drugs for major diseases including Cancer, SARS and HIV.Download the THINK distributed computing software to donate your idle PC time to a worthwhile cause. Why not read our latestnews? This web site requires a browser that supports frames.

A "BioBlitz" is a large scale event that engages large numbers of people with biodiversity, inviting them to get directly involved in surveying and monitoring. During a BioBlitz event scientists and members of the public work together to survey a natural space; seeking, identifying and recording as many species as possible over 24 hours.

CyberTracker is the most efficient method of gps field data collection. You can use CyberTracker on a Smartphone or handheld computer to record any type of observation. CyberTracker, which requires no programming skills, allows you to customize an Application for your own data collection needs.

The Planetary Data System (PDS) is an archive of data products from NASA planetary missions, which is sponsored by the NASA Office of Space Science. We actively manage the archive to maximize its usefulness, and it has become a basic resource for scientists around the world. All PDS-produced products are peer-reviewed, well-documented, and easily accessible via a system of online catalogs that are organized by planetary disciplines