Saving the World on Idle Computers

This is something I knew about, and that slipped my mind when I built a new computer a year or so ago.

Distributed Computing is when researchers that need lots and lots and lots of calculations done, calculations of such mid-boggling complexity that it takes months or years for the fastest supercomputers to run them, it can send off bits and pieces of those calculations to various individual's computers, which then take the excess capacity of your computer's processor and put it to good use.

There are projects that calculate how protiens fold (medical research), that look for cures to AIDS, cancer, malaria, anthrax, smallpox, muscular dystrophy, and other diseases. They run climate models, look for extraterrestrial life, and more.

I used to participate in the World Community Grid. I think I'll probably rejoin that, but want to take a closer look, just to be sure.

And it's all done in the background, so it doesn't even slow down your computer. It's really a pretty slick deal.