As people try to maintain social engagement during self-isolation, citizen science offers a unique opportunity.

人们在隔离期间还想努力保持社会参与度，公众科学为你提供一个独特的机会。

Defined as "public participation and collaboration in scientific research", citizen science allows everyday people to use technology to unite towards a common goal – from the comfort of their homes. And it is now offering a chance to contribute to research on the coronavirus pandemic.

公众科学的定义是“科学研究中的公众参与与合作”，普通人可以利用技术团结一致实现共同目标，在舒适的家里就可以做到。现在公众就有机会为新冠疫情研究做出贡献。

With so many of us staying home, this could help build a sense of community where we may otherwise feel helpless, or struggle with isolation.

我们很多人都待在家中，公众科学有助于建立一种社会责任感，否则我们会感觉很无助，或者觉得隔离很痛苦。

Anyone is welcome to contribute. You don't need expertise, just time and interest. Projects exist in many forms, catering to people of diverse ages, backgrounds and circumstances. Many projects offer resources and guides to help you get started, and opportunities to collaborate via online discussion forums.

任何人都可以参与进来，你不需要有专业知识，只要有时间、感兴趣就行。有很多种形式的项目，适合不同年龄段、不同背景和处境的人。很多项目提供资源和指导来帮助人们开始， 人们还有机会通过网上论坛合作。

Scientists worldwide are racing to find effective treatments and vaccines to halt the coronavirus pandemic. As a citizen scientist, you can join the effort to help tackle COVID-19, and other infectious diseases.

全球的科学家争相寻找有效疗法和疫苗来遏制新冠疫情。作为公民科学家，你可以加入进来，帮助解决新冠病毒和其他传染病的问题。

Foldit is an online game that challenges players to fold proteins to better understand their structure and function. The Foldit team is now challenging citizen scientists to design antiviral proteins that can bind with the coronavirus.

Foldit是一款挑战玩家折叠蛋白质的在线游戏，使人们更好地理解蛋白质的结构和功能。Foldit团队现在挑战公民科学家去设计可以与冠状病毒结合的抗病毒蛋白。

The highest scoring designs will be manufactured and tested in real life. In this way, Foldit offers a creative outlet that could eventually contribute to a future vaccine for the virus.

得分最高的设计将会在现实中生产并测试。这样Foldit就提供了一个有创意的方法，最终能在将来为这种病毒的疫苗研发提供帮助。

Another similar project is Folding@home. This is a distributed computing project that, rather than using you to find proteins, uses your computer's processing power to run calculations in the background. Your computer becomes one of thousands running calculations, all working together.

另一个类似的项目是Folding@home。这是一个分布式计算项目，不是让你去寻找蛋白质，而是利用你的电脑的处理能力在后台进行计算。你的电脑就变成了数千个同时运行的计算程序中的一个。