Foldit: Using Crowdsourcing to Fold Proteins

The TedTalk about open-source economics reminded me of a program that I've used that is similar to the ones mentioned in the talk. FoldIt is a computer game that has the player manipulate proteins into different configurations. Different manipulations and configurations will add or deduct points from the player's total, and the player's goal is to determine the configuration that gives them as many points as possible. The highest scoring protein configurations that players come up with are reviewed by researchers who determine if the configurations are actually feasible. By this method, average people who tinker with the proteins have actually assisted researchers in determining the real folding patterns of certain proteins.
In my opinion, the most interesting part of this is that originally, the program was designed to be completed by a computer that would fold a protein in different ways which would be submitted for review by the researchers. However, they found that human brain, due to its natural inclinations for spatial reasoning and finding patterns, is actually a better protein folding machine than computers. (In other words, Humans: 1 Computers: 0.)
The feats that have been achieved by this program are pretty astounding. One example that I though particularly impressive was that, when an enzyme whose folding structure was previously unknown was put forth to the players of FoldIt, they determined its correct folding structure within 10 days. Previously, scientists had been struggling to figure out this structure for 15 years! Players have also determined better folding structures for previously designed synthetic proteins, making them considerably more effective reagents.
To me, it's just generally awesome to see how the collective effort and brainpower of ordinary people can contribute to scientific discovery. It just shows that though education and experience are absolutely essential for the designing experiments and making discoveries, in some cases it appears that crowdsourcing can be just as (if not more) successful.
Here's the link to Foldit site where you can learn more about the program and download it: http://fold.it/portal/ It's actually a really way to exercise your brain while contributing to science.