We are simply delighted today to be taking part in the White House Frontiers Conference with Mozak! For up to the minute news, visit our Mozak social media channels on Twitter, Facebook, or just head right over to the website and get signed up before public beta (we’re letting in waves of people frequently now to test new features).
It’s fall once again at the University of Washington, so let’s take a look at some of our teams and what they’re up to right now:
Algebra Challenge: Our fall Story Problem Challenge signups are launching on Monday morning! During this fall challenge teachers and students will use the teacher copilot software and Riddle Books to play. Students of all levels and grades with an interest in math are welcome! Private schools, home school groups and math clubs are also invited. There is no limit to how much time each student can use to play during this period. Learn more and bookmark the Challenge website, so you and your team can be prepared to play and follow along when the challenge starts October 24th. You can also play the Riddle Books demo right now!
Foldit: September 30 is Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy Awareness Day, and they have introduced Puzzle 1291: Dysferlin C2B Domain to commemorate this day and to spread awareness to the Foldit community. Our collaborators at the Jain Foundation asked Foldit players to model the structure of dysferlin to better understand its function, and of course they are happy to help! You may have also noticed the latest Nature publication, as well.
Mozak: Our Friends and Family beta has returned some great data. Follow our progress on Twitter, Facebook, and of course, get more information on our website.
Fresh off the Nature press: “Determining crystal structures through crowdsourcing and coursework”. As the paper abstract notes, “Introduction of a new feature into the computer game Foldit allows players to build and real-space refine structures into electron density maps. To assess the usefulness of this feature, we held a crystallographic model-building competition between trained crystallographers, undergraduate students, Foldit players and automatic model-building algorithms. After removal of disordered residues, a team of Foldit players achieved the most accurate structure.”
Good job, Foldit community! Read more about it here.
The Story Problem Challenge is back, with registration opening up on October 3 and starting with a Riddle Book themed week on October 24! We have a lot of plans for this upcoming challenge, based on parents and teacher feedback during our successful Spring 2016 event, which was mentioned in the Seattle Times, and extended for a week due to popular demand. Challenge software (the teacher copilot and Riddle Books) is currently limited to our Algebra Challenge events and select times during the year. Read more about our Spring Challenge here.
We are always interested in partnering with organizations that can publicize and run Algebra Challenges on a state and country-wide level. If you believe you are in a position to do this, please contact us!
Good news, everyone! The Foldit team wanted to let everyone know that they will be discussing the exciting results from the Foldit vs. UMich Electron Density Challenge at the next Scientist Chat (August)! With Mozak’s public beta on the horizon, and our continuing work on proteins, there’s never been a better time to get involved in citizen science!
