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Folding@home
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 I've decided to help Stanford's Folding@home project using my PS3. To those uninitiated with the Folding@home project, it's an international effort to share processing power of idle computers to simulate "folding" of proteins. Why fold proteins? Well, to quote the official Folding@home site:
Proteins are biology's workhorses -- its "nanomachines." Before proteins can carry out these important functions, they assemble themselves, or "fold." The process of protein folding, while critical and fundamental to virtually all of biology, in many ways remains a mystery.
Moreover, when proteins do not fold correctly (i.e. "misfold"), there can be serious consequences, including many well known diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Mad Cow (BSE), CJD, ALS, Huntington's, Parkinson's disease, and many Cancers and cancer-related syndromes.
By simulating folding proteins, the brilliant people at Stanford can then study these and try to determine what causes these "misfolds" and come up with ways to prevent and/or reverse them.
Sony and Stanford recently released a client for the PS3, so I thought to myself, what the heck. It's not like I'm gaming or watching Blu-ray Movies 24/7. But you don't need a PS3 to share some of your own idle processing power. You go to the official website and download a client for your operating system.
So how does it work? Each participant is given a protein to fold, then once the protein has fully developed the sample is sent back to Stanford. Simple enough, but to simulate the almost infinite randomness of proteins requires lots of time. Even with my PS3's hefty Cell Processor, one sample takes 8 hours to complete. But that doesn't mean you need to let your computer run for 8 hours straight, you can always turn if off then the program should continue where you last left off. At least that's what my PS3 does. Dedicating 2 hours a day for your computer to fold should be enough. It may take longer for you to finish a sample, but every little bit helps.
It feels good that I'm able to help with something I bought for selfish reasons. Just paying it forward I guess.Labels: PlayStation, Tech |
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 Name: Jin
Occupation:
Graphic Artist/Pirate
Geek Toys:
20" iMac Core Duo, PSP, iPod (3G), EOS350D
Special Attack(s):
La Serpiente Strike
El Gato Fist
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Being the mindless drone of fashion that I am, I decided to jump on the Blogging bandwagon. This site contains all my rants and raves about current events, technology, video gaming, cinema and the occasional snippets of my own geek life. (Yeah, quite original, I know.)
Best viewed at 1024x768 on Firefox or Safari. Internet Explorer 6 sucks donkey dick.
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© 2006. All rights reserved.
Illustrations and Character Designs: Jin.
The Sims. © 2006. Electronic Arts, Inc.
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