Direct Action

Gamers Solve AIDS Enzyme Puzzle

- Adam Clare

If you thought playing games was just for fun, well Foldit is a game that has people solve problems for science. That itself is pretty neat, but what pushes this one over the edge is that Foldit has brought some great results and fast!

Developed in 2008 by the University of Washington, it is a fun-for-purpose video game in which gamers, divided into competing groups, compete to unfold chains of amino acids — the building blocks of proteins — using a set of online tools.
To the astonishment of the scientists, the gamers produced an accurate model of the enzyme in just three weeks.
Cracking the enzyme “provides new insights for the design of antiretroviral drugs,” says the study, referring to the lifeline medication against the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
It is believed to be the first time that gamers have resolved a long-standing scientific problem.
“We wanted to see if human intuition could succeed where automated methods had failed,” Firas Khatib of the university’s biochemistry lab said in a press release.

Read the rest of the article.

Thanks Kathryn!

Greenpeace at 40

- Adam Clare

I’ll come out and say that I”m a keen supporter of Greenpeace so I’m happy to point out all the good work they’ve done over the past 40 years that they’ve been around. You can see what Greenpeace actions we’ve covered at Things Are Good in the past.

Greenpeace has put up a slideshow on their site celebrating the accomplishments, you can view it here.

You can read Greenpeace’s blog post on the event here.

From the CBC:

“We wouldn’t see the kind of action by governments that we’ve had in the last 40 years if you hadn’t had that kind of pressure applied by the environmental movement.”

Sept. 15, 1971, is cited as the beginning of Greenpeace, the day a group of anti-nuclear activists in Vancouver called the Don’t Make a Wave Committee chartered a ship with the aim of heading off underground nuclear tests by the U.S. government on the remote Alaskan island of Amchitka. In anticipation of the protest, the vessel, Phyllis Cormack, was renamed Greenpeace, a term coined by activist Bill Darnell.

The ship was ultimately blocked by the U.S. Coast Guard before it could reach Amchitka, and the scheduled tests went ahead as planned. But the protest aroused significant public interest in the group, which was renamed Greenpeace International in 1972.

Read more from the CBC on Greenpeace’s 40 year history.

A Book That Helps Kill Malaria

- Adam Clare

Malaria No More has a book released through The Domino Project that is a collection of essays on the state of malaria. The good news is that when you purchase a copy of this book, the money spent goes directly to campaigns that stop the spread of malaria.

The Domino Project in conjunction with Box of Crayons is working with Malaria No More to help end malaria. No More’s mission is to end malaria in Africa by 2015. A child dies every 45 seconds from malaria.

It isn’t very often that a book has the power to save a life. Yes, good books can improve lives, shape lives, even change lives. But when was the last time a book literally helped save a life? If you’re reading this page, the answer is right now.

$20 from the purchase of each copy of End Malaria will go to to Malaria No More to send a mosquito net to a family in need and to support life-saving work in the fight against malaria. That’s 100% of the Kindle sale, and most of the hard copy price ($25).

Thanks Allen!

You can buy the book through Amazon.

Solar Tent for Emergency Relief

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

In many disaster scenarios electricity is a badly needed resource that can be very hard to come by. Power lines are knocked down and generators can be in short supply. A logical (and obvious) solution to this is to use sustainable grid-free electricity generation. One company has done this by making the solar tent.

The idea of using renewable energy sources in such conditions could be viable options for rescue work and to satisfy the energy needs. Unconventional power sources are available at a minimum cost and certainly very safely. Both wind power and solar power will become more portable energy sources used in the future.

One of the solutions which use solar power is PowerMod. It is a portable solar tent, ready to help in relief work the victims of disasters. PowerMod is a simply kind of shelter with a 20 x 20 foot roof of flexible solar panel made by Ascent Solar’s thin film solar cells. Being assembled in only 15 minutes by two persons it has a weight of 165 pounds totally and gives a power output of 4.5 KWh/day.

For more see Ecowizer

A Game That Protects Nature

- Adam Clare

A new Facebook game has been launched that allows you to help the planet while you play. It’s called MyConservationPark and it’s made by Good World Games.

MyConservationPark is a socially conscious Facebook game that places you in charge of building and managing a protected wildlife reserve. Create and sustain a livable habitat for your endangered heroes while defending your park from human and environmental threats. Purchase species and hire helpers to improve your animal’s habitat; the healthier your animal’s habitat, the more Conservation Cash and Good World Gold you earn. Your gameplay supports real life conservation efforts: MyConservationPark donates a percentage of all in-game purchase revenue directly to one of our non-profit partners’ conservation programs.

Play MyConservationPark
Good World Games

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