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 Folding for the cure
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Agent Ghost

  • Total Posts : 5486
  • Joined: Aug 09, 2006
Folding for the cure - Jan 27, 2007 14:16
http://folding.stanford.edu/

Some of you guys might have heard about this when they announced that they added ps3 support. This is basically a non-profit computational distribution project that was started in order to stimulate how proteins " fold" . Apparently this will help them find cures to diseases like Cancer,Alzheimer' s,Huntington' s,Osteogenesis Imperfecta,Parkinson' s,Ribosome & antibiotics etc. They have hundreds of thousands of computers helping in the proccess but they need more. The amount of math that needs to be calculated is astonomical.

It' s pretty easy, you download the client which took me about 2 seconds, create a username, adjust the settings and you' re ready to go. It runs in the background and places itself as the lowest possible priority. In other words if you want, you can have it only be active when your PC is idle.

The neat thing is that it tracks your progress as an individual as well as teams. You may join a team if you like.

I joined the NCIX team and if you want to join that team, the number is 37412. However if Kikizo made a team I' d join that.

http://vspx27.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/main.py?qtype=teampage&teamnum=37412
Zoy

  • Total Posts : 1703
  • Joined: May 15, 2006
RE: Folding for the cure - Jan 28, 2007 05:57
This is a great way to share your resources if you leave your PC on most of the time. I' ve been running a similar thing called World Community Grid for a couple of years now.
Agent Ghost

  • Total Posts : 5486
  • Joined: Aug 09, 2006
RE: Folding for the cure - Jan 28, 2007 08:16
I have a dual core cpu so i could run both Stanfords folding project and World Grid. I' ll check them out at any rate.

EDIT: I' m now a member of the World Community Grid, I' m using Agent Ghost as my user name and I' m on the " Canada" team. I' ll finish my current workload with Stanford and I think I' ll drop them in favor of the World Community Grid, they are more developed. I am currently running both at the same time without any problem though.
< Message edited by Agent Ghost -- 28 Jan 07 1:33:32 >
the_shadowwolf

  • Total Posts : 675
  • Joined: Jan 04, 2007
  • Location: The Caribbean
RE: Folding for the cure - Jan 30, 2007 01:26
I read http://folding.stanford.edu/
clicked on links.
I don' t get it?
I understand the concept of proteins folding over since this is what i specialized in. However, what does computers have to do with it and their scores. Let me know before i recommend this site to some researchers in University.
Zoy

  • Total Posts : 1703
  • Joined: May 15, 2006
RE: Folding for the cure - Jan 30, 2007 02:28
Basically you' re installing an application on your computer that only runs when you' re not using it (ideal for people who leave their computers on all the time rather than turning them on and off). Your computer crunches some of the data that they' re working on as part of the overall research project. Meanwhile, thousands of other people are also allowing their computers to be used for the project... thus, they have a virtual supercomputer thanks to the goodwill of the people, including crazy gamers with suped-up gaming rigs. You gain scores based on how much your particular computer gets done. The teams and scores are just for fun and bragging rights even though we' re all contributing together to the success of the research projects.

World Community Grid
< Message edited by Zoy -- 29 Jan 07 18:33:21 >
ginjirou

  • Total Posts : 4836
  • Joined: Jul 16, 2005
  • Location: Sweden
RE: Folding for the cure - Jan 30, 2007 02:43
Bah! Helping people and doing stuff for free is so 1970' s.
Welcome to the 21th century. I' m busy getting richer and more influential, why would I care about crap like that?
I' d rather turn my PC of and save money on my electric bill. Imagine if companies would leave their PC' s on for that shit! Waste of money and time I tell you.
Zoy

  • Total Posts : 1703
  • Joined: May 15, 2006
RE: Folding for the cure - Jan 30, 2007 11:53
I take it this means that I' m not allowed to add another piece of coal to the fire, and I' m expected to work on christmas day?
the_shadowwolf

  • Total Posts : 675
  • Joined: Jan 04, 2007
  • Location: The Caribbean
RE: Folding for the cure - Feb 01, 2007 02:54

I' d rather turn my PC of and save money on my electric bill. Imagine if companies would leave their PC' s on for that shit! Waste of money and time I tell you.


Yep time and electricity = $$$
Though it is for a good cause. But if someone has a slow p3 700 mhz and they want to help they would overall get a low score.

I think i could use this in an interview on Friday. Its about Alzheimer' s disease, biochemical ways of detection, prevention.

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