Folding@home is a way to easily contribute for free to the search for cures to Alzheimer’s disease and even many cancers. All you have to do is let Stanford University’s free program run in the background on your computer (Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD) or Sony PlayStation3. I recommend that you give it a try if you haven’t already. More details after the jump.
An important biological function that scientists still don’t have a firm understanding of is how proteins fold (assemble themselves). By studying the results of computer simulations, they hope to find cures to diseases resulting from proteins misfolding. These simulations are extremely complex, to the point that they require massive distributed computing. Nobody on their own has enough computing power to do the work alone. The Folding@home project needs the help of many computers from around the world. Further information can be found in their FAQ.
what does the program do?
Posted by Aunt Nancy on June 16th, 2009.
Good point. My apologies for not including that information in the original post. I will add it shortly, and thanks for the comment.
Posted by Paul Tow on June 16th, 2009.
I’ve updated the post. Thanks again.
Posted by Paul Tow on June 16th, 2009.
Sounds interesting…. It seems like a good way to help a cause within the minimal of efforts. Nice job on the post!
Posted by Pyro on June 29th, 2009.