How Plants and Animals Can Prepare Us for the Next Big Disaster
So what can we learn from an octopus?
Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/How-Plants-and-Animals-Can-Prepare-Us-for-the-Next-Big-Disaster.html#ixzz1rD5WWfQl
Very interesting and worth the read. 
= new reply since forum marked as read
snip...
Q: Are there other examples of challenge-based problem solving that you find interesting?
A: There are video games that have been created by biologists. The biologists are trying to figure out how proteins can be folded in different configurations, which is an incredibly complex problem. So they created a video game where gamers online compete with one another to try to come up with the best configurations for proteins. That has been incredibly effective, with much faster results than any individual biology lab could come up with. There is virtually no incentive there except to beat your fellow gamers.
Anytime you are issuing these challenges, if you ask the right question, you are likely to get a range of responses, some of which will be very good, some of which will be completely surprising, and you’ll do it at a very low cost and in a very quick time frame.
Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/How-Plants-and-Animals-Can-Prepare-Us-for-the-Next-Big-Disaster.html#ixzz1rCeoBpEU
"There is virtually no incentive there except to beat your fellow gamers." 
The octopus video on page two is fascinating! 
I wasn't sure the article was fit for GD, but I'm so happy you and others enjoyed it and I didn't get locked.