An AT reader tipped us off that Sony Computers and Stanford University have been
urging Playstation3 users to participate in the
Folding@home program. We've been a fan of Folding@home for some time now, so we were in total agreement that it was something to share with AT Home Tech readers.
Folding@home is a distributed computing system that utilizes your home computer (and now a Playstation3) to help researchers study and cure diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, cystic fibrosis, and many cancers. What it does, is install a small program that harnesses some of your computer's spare processing and simulates protein folding. They need all the help that they can get, so volunteering to run in the background of your computer is definitely a good deed.
With addition of the Playstation3 to the mix, Folding@home has more than doubled its computing power. Just think about how many Playstations are out there in the world, and it's not hard to imagine how they've made such an impact.
An added bonus is the fabulous graphics it displays while it is running and that you can use as your screen saver. A bit of art for your desktop (or television), as well as helping to save the world, one protein at a time.
Folding@Home is a great project. I used to run it a while back, but just started it back up on my mac mini. If any AT readers are interested in joining the effort, I started an AT team so that we can see what kind of impact we're all making. Are there any PS3 owners out there in AT-land who are willing to help?
For those who are interested:
Team id - 62268
Team Page: http://fah-web.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/main.py?qtype=teampage&teamnum=62268
view aghman's profile
Awesome, aghman! Thanks!
view kate's profile
World Community Grid....a similar program specifically for AIDS.
view hdtex's profile