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You parents who swear daily at your lazy teen for playing too many online games should probably pipe down for a minute.....

From FoxNews -- In just three weeks, online gamers deciphered the structure of a retrovirus protein that has stumped scientists for over a decade, and a study out Sunday says their breakthrough opens doors for a new AIDS drug design.

The protein, called a protease, plays a critical role in how some viruses, including HIV, multiply. Intensive research has been underway to find AIDS drugs that can deactivate proteases, but scientists were hampered by their inability to crack the enzyme's structure.

Looking for a solution, researchers at the University of Washington turned to Foldit, a program created by the university a few years ago that transforms problems of science into competitive computer games, and challenged players to use their three-dimensional problem-solving skills to build accurate models of the protein.

Hilariously, the people at whom the educated class look down their noses, solved in 3 weeks a serious medical problem, the answer to which eluded PhD's and MD's for 10 years.

Online gamers are the antithesis of higher education in a similar way that hackers are the antithesis of corporate ladder climbing, yet the gamers and hackers can teach a thing or two to the conformists who have nothing but contempt for them. How satisfying!