3 October 2020 | New Scientist | 51The back pages
NIAID/SCIENCE
PHOTO^ LIBRARYLayal Liverpool is a
digital journalist at
New Scientist. She believes
everyone can be a scientist,
including you. @layallivs
These articles are
posted each week at
newscientist.com/makerWhat you need
A computer with
internet access
Folding@home’s freely
available software
Citizen science will be back
again in four weeks’ time
Next week
Science of cooking
THIS week, instead of folding my
laundry, I decided to fold some
proteins. I joined more than
4 million citizen scientists around
the world and lent my computer
power to Folding@home, a project
running powerful simulations
of proteins to help us understand
these large molecules and the
role they play in disease.
Proteins are the machines
that our bodies use to get things
done, and the way they work
is dependent on their ability
to fold into different shapes.
By understanding this at the level
of the atoms within the molecule,
we can manipulate the process.
To participate in Folding@
home, you need a computer
with internet access. You then
download and install free software
from foldingathome.org. When
you are ready, click “start folding”
to donate your computing
power to the project. If you are
competitive like me, you can check
a leader board to see how many
protein simulations you have
contributed to compared with
other people. You can also form
a team and compete as a group.
The work could help us
understand conditions that arise
when proteins fold incorrectly
(see the pictured misfolded
prion proteins above), such as
Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s
disease and motor neuron
disease. It could also inform the
development of new drugs that
work to prevent proteins from
misfolding in the first place.
In light of the pandemic,
Folding@home has shifted itsMillions of people are helping scientists understand the new
coronavirus without leaving their homes, finds Layal LiverpoolCitizen science
Put your computer to work
focus to proteins related to
the coronavirus, including the
surface “spike” protein that
the virus uses to invade cells.
Simulations have already
revealed one way in which the
spike protein may change shape
to avoid the virus being detected
by the body’s immune system.
Analysing all of the possible
movements of a protein requires
such an enormous amount of
computing power that only a
few standalone supercomputers
are up to the task. Even then,
they are pretty slow.
Folding@home’s software
gets around this by splitting up
each protein simulation into tiny
fragments, each of which are
run on individual devices in the
homes of volunteers around the
world. These mini-simulationsare then combined together
to acquire a full picture of how
the proteins move. In March this
year, Folding@home exceeded
1.5 ExaFLOPS of computing power,
which is more than 10 times the
power of Summit, the world’s
fastest public supercomputer.
I haven’t made it to the top of
the protein-folding leader board
yet, but I do have a certificate
confirming that I helped power
nine protein simulations. I like
the idea that I have contributed
to research that could improve our
understanding of disease, without
even leaving my living room.
Unfortunately, I am yet to get a
certificate for folding laundry. ❚Feedback
Virtual clothes
and fruitloopery:
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