Mac OS X Client Released For Folding@home

throwthag writes "There is finally a Mac OS X client for Stanford University's protein folding distributed processing project and I have created a team for all Mac OS X users out there called, appropriately enough, Team MacOS X."

Comments

Re:Why folding?

[jeblucas]

Protein folding is the "great problem" of bio-science today. The Human Genome Project is small taters next to the -real- big issue--The Proteome Project.

Genes are nice, they certainly ~do~ indicate predilictions towards diseases, behaviors etc, but proteisn are the actual workhorses of the body and the actual CAUSE of the diseases etc. The more we understand about proteins, the closer we are to understanding, well, just about everything about us. Read here for a nice intro.

And folding is the real stinker. We can get the gene that codes for a protein. We can see the little ribosomes chug along and make the protein. And then the protein folds up and that's why it works. If it folds like ~this~ it's normal, all friendly. If it folds like ~that~ it's a prion that convinces other normal proteins to fold up just like it and you die of Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease.

Finding some alien radio transmitter sure would be nice, but finding out why folks die from cystic fibrosis might be a better way to spend downtime.