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PS3 Downtime To Fight Disease

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the gamers-for-good dept.

Aerenel writes, "CNN reports that Sony has teamed up with Folding@home to use the PS3 to study how proteins are formed in the human body and how they sometimes form incorrectly. From the article: 'Donating [a gamer's] PS3's down time to researchers could help cure Alzheimer's, Parkinson's or mad cow disease.' PS3 users will be able to download a software package that tracks when the PS3 is not being used. While gamers are in school, at work, or asleep, their system's Cell processor can be used to perform simulations for research organizations. The PS3, due in November, has gotten serious negative press in the past few months, and this refreshing good news may win back the hearts of gamers still undecided about purchasing the system."

6 of 289 comments (clear)

  1. Re:In other words... by urbanradar · · Score: 5, Insightful

    RTFA. It's on a voluntary basis. If you don't like it, don't do it. But it certainly is nice to have the possibility, and, as it seems, officially approved by Sony.

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    Basilisk Digital
  2. Fight my disease by OSS_ilation · · Score: 5, Funny

    Do I have Alzheimer's, or did I read about this last month?

  3. Not HAHA by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Informative

    Well, this article is kind of a dupe but the CNN article has a lot of new information.

    One of tidbits is that the researchers have to dumb down the PC distributed version so that it runs on even the slowest computer. In fact, they have to play to the lowest common denominator. With the PS3, it's standardized so they can inch out every bit of performance from the chipset. On top of that, they know there will only be on GPU so they can write the renderer for that and you'll see the protein folding on your screen. It will look all science-y and you can navigate around it. People might like this as a screen saver or conversation piece. The researchers are also hoping that it attracts people to also install it on their computers to aid in this endeavor.

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    My work here is dung.
    1. Re:Not HAHA by Anonymous+Freak · · Score: 5, Informative
      BOINC allows such a setting, but it's buried deep within the settings.

      The United Devices client has it at 50% by default, and is easier to configure.

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      Another non-functioning site was "uncertainty.microsoft.com."
      The purpose of that site was not known.
  4. Pass by mac123 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm waiting for the project that will have me use all of the spare time for my incredibly overpowered home CPUs (and with it ample amounts of electricity) to 'fight global warming'!

  5. Re:How the.. by kpearson · · Score: 5, Informative

    Have you read anything about Folding@home before you started criticizing it? It is run by a public university, not a privately-held organization. The university will not profit from the research. If you can't bother to learn about the project, at least read it's FAQ.