The enzyme hexokinase, in an illustration of protein catalysis. After a protein folds into its final 3D shape, the precise shape of its surface, in precise contact with complementary surfaces of other molecules, stimulates or allows the manufacture of other vital biomolecules. (University of Hamburg DE / W. S. Bennett, T. A. Steitz, 1980)The Register (online computer newsletter)
Thursday 15 March 2007
Help frag cancer
Folding@home
comes to the PS3
by Drew Cullen in San Francisco
Sony is to let Playstation 3 users run Folding@home on their consoles, helping the study of Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, cystic fibrosis and many cancers.
Folding@home is a popular distributed computing app from Stanford University [in Palo Alto, California USA]. It uses the downtime of many thousands of internet-connected PCs volunteered for the project by their owners to process computationally-intensive simulations concerning protein-folding, misfolding and related diseases.
Some simulations could take 30 years to run on a single PC, so running them across the Folding@home network saves a lot of time, Stanford says. The PS3 could help save even more: according to Sony, The PS3's Cell/B.E. processor is about 10 times faster than a conventional PC chip, and so can perform simulations that much faster.
The Folding@home icon will be added to the next updat of Sony's XMB (Cross MediaBar) user interface at the ned of March. PS3 users just have to click the icon to start running. Or they can set their console to run the app whenever it is idle -- i.e. switched-on, connected to the internet and otherwise minding its own business.
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4 comments:
Hell ya. Definitely a positive partnership. It's amazing that they're adding it to the main interface and not some sub-option. This will no doubt increase folding awareness ten fold.
drum roll ..........
ladies & gentleman, Vleeptron proudly introduces PHROST, da Undernet Guy who put together a Folding@Home team that I joined!
Until this happened, Folding@Home was a very obscure activity, and though thousands of computer users all over the world happily and proudly joined, it just wasn't on the radar of Mainstream Computing.
Sony Playstation 3 -- well, Folding@Home is in the Cyber Bigtime Now! Now every 12-year-old who spends hours every day disemboweling and machine-gunning virtual terrorists will know what Folding@Home is, and one click on the PS3 makes the kid part of this community.
It's Not Just For Nerds Anymore!
I always thought the inventor of Folding@Home, Stanford U.'s biochemist Vijay Pande, was a megasmart guy -- but this partnering with Sony and the PS3 is a REAL smart move!
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