Slashdot Mirror
Stardust@Home Lets Public Search Grains of Dust
An anonymous reader writes "In a new project called Stardust@home, UC Berkeley researchers are inviting Internet users to help them search for a few dozen submicroscopic grains of interstellar dust captured by NASA's Stardust spacecraft. Rather than relying on the user's spare PC cycles, though, the system depends on their eyes." From the article: "Though Stardust's main mission was to capture dust from the tail of comet Wild 2 - dust dating from the origins of the solar system some 4.5 billion years ago - it also captured a sprinkling of dust from distant stars, perhaps created in supernova explosions less than 10 million years ago."
...or is distributed computing itself being overdistributed? If they keep it up, everyone will be running a completely unique @home program by themselves, defeating the entire purpose. :P
The irony of posting this to slashdot...
Useing the mass public for something like this seems risky. For instance, right now I'm so tired I'm seeing stars and this thing isn't even on my computer.
Someone save me from this sanity.
Marjorie Dawes: Dust. Anybody? No? High in fat, low in fat? Dust. Anybody? No? Dust. Anybody? No? Dust. Anybody? No? Dust. Anybody? No? Dust. Anybody? No? Dust. It's actually very low in fat. You can have as much dust as you like.
Cheap UK and US VPS
As if I need my computer to find dust. All I have to do is take the back off and there's loads of it there already. Hey, Berkeley! I've found some, you crazy researchers!
What's that? Interstellar dust you say? Er, sorry...
bang goes my karma... again...
The International Stardust Registry gift package is now available for a reasonable fee. It includes a beautiful 12" x 16" parchment certificate, available framed or unframed, with the name of your choice, dedication date, and coordinates of the particle of stardust. You'll also receive an informative booklet with details on the computer user who described your particle of stardust.
What better gift for a loved one or friend than a particle of stardust named in their honor? Note - we have been asked that no further particles be named "Ziggy".
"Waste not one watt!" - CZ
Is UCB going to distribute air filters to participants?
My machines process enough dust as it is. Dust-analysis in addition to dust-processing sounds to me like a high-risk task combination.
Thank you, Edward Snowden.
"Arguments from authority are worthless." —Carl Sagan
...will they name it after me?
I'm launching "cleaning@home" where users get the thrilling opportunity to keep my house clean. Users only have to show up at my door where they can aquire the "bucket-n-mop" application which effectively harnesses their spare "work-cycles".
This morning I was quoted as saying "This is a great new field for distributed applications. - careful the floor is still wet!"
So if we hook this up with the SETI@home program, could we look for intelligent life in the universe that's inside the speck of dust? "Beam me up, Scotty: there's no intelligent life down here."