The science fiction novel Ender’s Game has experienced a recent resurgence in popularity with the release of the movie. In its opening weekend, the box office hit raked in over 28 million dollars. Written by Orson Scott Card, Ender’s Game tells the story of a genius boy who solves the looming issue of potentially threatening aliens by defeating them through high-tech “video games.” This phenomenon has carried over to the real world with gamers recently solving an AIDS puzzle. Using an online game called Fold it, players were able to figure out the structure of protein retroviral protease, which causes AIDS in rhesus monkeys. Released by the University of Washington, this information was especially significant to the scientific field. Only after the structure was found, were scientists able to understand how the protein works. In only ten days, gamers were able to solve a puzzle that confused scientists for 15 years. Even more astounding was the fact that most of the gamers had no extensive scientific background.

Jump shift back to the novel. Under the impression he was playing a video game, Ender unknowingly solved a long-unanswered battle against aliens. Likewise, the gamers who solved the AIDS puzzle had no idea they were actually helping scientists with AIDS research. They, too, thought they were simply playing a competitive game. Does this suggest that people can resolve issues faster when they are in less-stressful environments? This phenomenon of gamers helping to solve key issues offers possible new insight on how scientists could approach some of today’s key issues. Utilizing online gaming systems to incorporate scientific research could produce faster results. Perhaps, science fiction is not really fiction at all.