Its something that each of us devours,
Not just us but birds, beats, trees, and flowers,
Frets iron and nibbles steel,
Toil hard stones to meal,
Exterminates king, collapse town,
And blows the mountains down.
The first person saw the bridge step on it and crossed,
the second person saw the bridge did not step on it but crossed,
the third person did not see the bridge did not step on it but crossed.
Who are these people?
People are waiting in line to board a 100-seat aeroplane. Steve is the first person in the line. He gets on the plane but suddenly can't remember what his seat number is, so he picks a seat at random. After that, each person who gets on the plane sits in their assigned seat if it's available, otherwise, they will choose an open seat at random to sit in. The flight is full and you are last in line. What is the probability that you get to sit in your assigned seat?
In 2011, people playing Foldit, an online puzzle game about protein folding, resolved the structure of an enzyme that causes an Aids-like disease in monkeys. Researchers had been working on the problem for 13 years. The gamers solved it in three weeks.
