Question

Studying the folding patterns of protein molecules can help microbiologists better understand cellular processes as well as some diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, that are caused by proteins that have misfolded. The folding of these complicated molecules can be simulated on computers, but it takes a lot of processor power and time for even expensive supercomputers to do this. A group of researchers at Stanford University developed software that can be used to distribute the processing of data to anyone who is willing to donate time on their idle personal computers. As a result, the researchers have been able to achieve protein-folding simulations that are far better than those other computing methods have done. Which statement best describes
a the work of these researchers? The work is not scientific because the data are not processed in one location.

b The work is not scientific because the simulations are not reproducible.

c The researchers applied creativity to solve a problem in running an experiment.

d The researchers used only well-established scientific techniques.

Answer 1

The best answer in this case is C, "the researchers applied creativity to solve a problem in running an experiment".

Distributing the computing load across the global community by sharing processing power is a creative response to tackle the challenge in simulating protein folding for the experiment. This does not change or reduce the scientific merits of the experiment, so we can discount the first two answers (a & b). Answer d talks about well established scientific techniques, although the question wasn't really centered around the specific techniques, so it's not as relevant an answer as C.