03-04-2020, 05:37 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-04-2020, 05:42 PM by RussEfarmer.)
Relevant Previous Thread
To keep this somewhat short, there are two projects I want to talk about: Rosetta@Home and Folding@Home, the prior running on the BOINC infrastructure program (see above thread), and the latter being very popular and running on it's own distributed computing infrastructure program (Again, see above thread)
These two scientific projects are hosted by Washington State University and Stanford University respectively, and they both use your computer's processing power in a simulation called protein folding. Protein folding, put simply, is the steps a protein takes to "fold" itself into it's proper shape, and knowing this process helps biologists know how these proteins operate. Unfortunately, finding what this process is requires A LOT of processing power, so instead of spending millions on a supercomputer, scientists distribute small parts of the simulation to your computer to process and return to them.
If you want to help stop the Corona Virus, or other diseases like cancer or Alzheimer's disease, this is a free* and very easy way to do it. This pandemic has more than proven to be a threat to the entire world in a very short time. The more computing resources available to the scientists trying to stop it, the faster and easier this can be out of our hair forever with potentially hundreds of thousands of lives saved. This isn't someone else's problem anymore.
*Electricity costs money, and computers use electricity
If you have a powerful CPU only, I recommend Rosetta@Home. The BOINC software is very stable and hassle free, and is meant to give fine control over the computer resources it uses. If you have a powerful GPU (Or if you want a simpler software) I recommend Folding@Home, since it can take advantage of both CPU and GPU. Specific instructions for installation and configuration are available on the respective websites, but all go along the lines of download the software, sign up, and configure what you want to work on.
Some relevant news articles:
Small disclaimer: Doing this on a laptop is not recommended. Desktops can easily bear the toasty temperatures of a processor running at full tilt, but laptops are not meant to clear away that much heat. If you want to still though, there are options to turn down the power on both of these programs.
To keep this somewhat short, there are two projects I want to talk about: Rosetta@Home and Folding@Home, the prior running on the BOINC infrastructure program (see above thread), and the latter being very popular and running on it's own distributed computing infrastructure program (Again, see above thread)
These two scientific projects are hosted by Washington State University and Stanford University respectively, and they both use your computer's processing power in a simulation called protein folding. Protein folding, put simply, is the steps a protein takes to "fold" itself into it's proper shape, and knowing this process helps biologists know how these proteins operate. Unfortunately, finding what this process is requires A LOT of processing power, so instead of spending millions on a supercomputer, scientists distribute small parts of the simulation to your computer to process and return to them.
If you want to help stop the Corona Virus, or other diseases like cancer or Alzheimer's disease, this is a free* and very easy way to do it. This pandemic has more than proven to be a threat to the entire world in a very short time. The more computing resources available to the scientists trying to stop it, the faster and easier this can be out of our hair forever with potentially hundreds of thousands of lives saved. This isn't someone else's problem anymore.
*Electricity costs money, and computers use electricity
If you have a powerful CPU only, I recommend Rosetta@Home. The BOINC software is very stable and hassle free, and is meant to give fine control over the computer resources it uses. If you have a powerful GPU (Or if you want a simpler software) I recommend Folding@Home, since it can take advantage of both CPU and GPU. Specific instructions for installation and configuration are available on the respective websites, but all go along the lines of download the software, sign up, and configure what you want to work on.
Some relevant news articles:
- University of Washington Institute for Protein Design: Rosetta’s role in fighting coronavirus
- The Verge: Stanford group wants to use your computer to help researchers study the coronavirus
- DailyMail: Researchers urge public to link PCs to network so spare computing power can help develop a cure for coronavirus
- Vice: Scientists Need Your Help to Find Treatments for Coronavirus
Small disclaimer: Doing this on a laptop is not recommended. Desktops can easily bear the toasty temperatures of a processor running at full tilt, but laptops are not meant to clear away that much heat. If you want to still though, there are options to turn down the power on both of these programs.
