Distributed Computing

Donate your computer’s processing power! Sound strange? Well, its a pretty simple concept. There are a number of major research projects going on globally that need a lot of processing power to help in the research projects they are dedicated to. Known as “Distributed Computing,” the concpet is simple. There are many times in which we leave our computers on for lengthy periods of time, or when we are using them, we don’t use all the processing power available. Through dedicated networks, some very worthwhile projects “borrow” your computer’s processing power when it is not in use. Doesn’t cost you anything, and it can certainly help with some exciting projects out there. Here are links to a few that I am aware of.

Here are a few options.

Folding@home – Their goal is, “to understand protein folding, protein aggregation, and related diseases.”

Seti@home – “SETI@home is a scientific experiment that uses Internet-connected computers in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). You can participate by running a free program that downloads and analyzes radio telescope data.”

Grid.org “Grid.org is a single destination site for large-scale research projects powered by the United Devices grid computing solution, Grid MP Global. With the participation of over 2 million devices worldwide, grid.org projects like Cancer Research, Anthrax Research, and the new Smallpox Research Project have achieved record levels of processing speed and success.”

Mersenne.org – “You could discover one of the most coveted finds in all of Mathematics – a new Mersenne prime number. We’ve found five already. Join in on this fun, yet serious research project. All you need is a personal computer, patience, and a lot of luck.”

Parabon.com – “To empower cancer researchers, and recycle your computer’s idle time.”

FightAIDS@home “We are working together with other laboratories here at Scripps and elsewhere, to design, synthesize and test new HIV protease inhibitors that are better than existing drugs in defeating the virus’s ability to develop drug resistance.”

Climateprediction.net “The climateprediction.net experiment has been developed to allow a state-of-the-art climate prediction model to be run on home/ school/ work computers. By getting data from thousands of climate models, we will generate the world’s largest climate prediction experiment.”

Evolutionary-research.org – “Has everybody to become an evolutionary biologist? No. While scientists obviously remain key to the adventure on the long run, the general public can contribute something crucial experts are usually short of.”

Lifemapper.org – “While running as your screen saver, Lifemapper will compute, map and provide knowledge of: where Earth’s species of plants and animals live, where Earth’s species of plants and animals could potentially live, and where and how Earth’s species of plants and animals could spread across different regions of the world.”

find-a-drug.org – “Find-a-Drug aims to run a series of projects in parallel addressing a number of diseases which have a major impact on health. We seek to collaborate with the world’s leading experts including academics in each therapeutic area.”