With people talking about all those infected with the coronavirus these days, lots of people are wondering when we'll see a cure or a vaccine... And now there seems to be a way that people can help search for that answer! Back in 2008, developers at the University of Washington created a puzzle game called Foldit. The "game" was created to see if they could crowd-source potential cures for diseases like HIV/AIDS and Alzheimer's Disease. This week, a new coronavirus puzzle was added to the game.
Players are supposed to create or modify proteins that can bind to the coronavirus proteins and prevent them from infecting human cells and replicating. It's actually really simple to play, and you don't have to have a medical background to make it work. You just click a section and drag it around to change its shape. Foldit gives points based on efficiency and effectiveness, and there's a leaderboard if you want to track your scores.
The University of Washington says that it will test the most effective solutions to the puzzle in the real world as vaccines for COVID-19! You can download the game and try it out here.