Natoma
24-Nov-2005, 18:46
I know everyone here is on the B3D Folding team, but I was wondering if there's any interest in this new grid computing initiative.
http://fightaidsathome.scripps.edu/index.html
I read about it at Businessweek Online (http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2005/tc20051118_151428.htm?campaign_id=rss_tech).
When tech mavens first set out to harness the power of thousands of linked computers for a grassroots community project, their target was a strange one: ET. That 1999 effort, the Search for Extra-Terrestrials@Home, roped together a so-called grid of home computers scattered around the world to analyze radio signals from outer space, looking for evidence of life. Now comes a new grid project with a much more down-to-earth goal: fighting AIDS.
FightAIDS@Home taps an already-existing organization, the World Community Grid, to help scientists at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., discover new treatments for AIDS. The project, announced Nov. 21, puts more than 100,000 computers at Scripps' command. Community grids take massive number-crunching jobs that would normally be done on a frightfully expensive supercomputer and parcel them out to volunteers so the work can practically be done for free.
EVERYBODY'S "A PHILANTHROPIST." This is the first use of community grid computing to fight AIDS. "It means there's a better chance of getting more effective or more tailored drugs, and there's also a potential for making drugs less expensively," says Scripps Research Director Arthur J. Olson.
Anyone who wants to participate can find out how by logging on to the World Community Grid (http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/). "The more people who come on the grid, the more important research can be done," says Stan Litow, vice-president of corporate community relations at IBM (IBM (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:%20void%20showTicker%28%27IBM%27%29)), which is a lead organizer of both the community grid and the FightAIDS@Home project. "Everybody can be a philanthropist."
The AIDS grid announcement comes at a time of increased interest in philanthropy within the tech world. Google (GOOG (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:%20void%20showTicker%28%27GOOG%27%29)) recently pledged what could amount to nearly $1 billion over the next 20 years to social causes (see BW Online, 10/20/05, "Googling for Charity" (http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/oct2005/tc20051020_721687.htm)), and the MIT Media Lab is developing a $100 laptop computer it hopes to distribute for free to millions of poor students in less-developed countries (see BW Online, 10/04/05, "Help for Info Age Have-Nots" (http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/oct2005/tc2005104_6877_tc024.htm)). Tech companies were also generous in their contributions to Hurricane Katrina relief.
http://fightaidsathome.scripps.edu/index.html
I read about it at Businessweek Online (http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2005/tc20051118_151428.htm?campaign_id=rss_tech).
When tech mavens first set out to harness the power of thousands of linked computers for a grassroots community project, their target was a strange one: ET. That 1999 effort, the Search for Extra-Terrestrials@Home, roped together a so-called grid of home computers scattered around the world to analyze radio signals from outer space, looking for evidence of life. Now comes a new grid project with a much more down-to-earth goal: fighting AIDS.
FightAIDS@Home taps an already-existing organization, the World Community Grid, to help scientists at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., discover new treatments for AIDS. The project, announced Nov. 21, puts more than 100,000 computers at Scripps' command. Community grids take massive number-crunching jobs that would normally be done on a frightfully expensive supercomputer and parcel them out to volunteers so the work can practically be done for free.
EVERYBODY'S "A PHILANTHROPIST." This is the first use of community grid computing to fight AIDS. "It means there's a better chance of getting more effective or more tailored drugs, and there's also a potential for making drugs less expensively," says Scripps Research Director Arthur J. Olson.
Anyone who wants to participate can find out how by logging on to the World Community Grid (http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/). "The more people who come on the grid, the more important research can be done," says Stan Litow, vice-president of corporate community relations at IBM (IBM (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:%20void%20showTicker%28%27IBM%27%29)), which is a lead organizer of both the community grid and the FightAIDS@Home project. "Everybody can be a philanthropist."
The AIDS grid announcement comes at a time of increased interest in philanthropy within the tech world. Google (GOOG (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:%20void%20showTicker%28%27GOOG%27%29)) recently pledged what could amount to nearly $1 billion over the next 20 years to social causes (see BW Online, 10/20/05, "Googling for Charity" (http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/oct2005/tc20051020_721687.htm)), and the MIT Media Lab is developing a $100 laptop computer it hopes to distribute for free to millions of poor students in less-developed countries (see BW Online, 10/04/05, "Help for Info Age Have-Nots" (http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/oct2005/tc2005104_6877_tc024.htm)). Tech companies were also generous in their contributions to Hurricane Katrina relief.