Help Fight Diseases Through Your PS3s. Really. |
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Sony steps up for some corporate responsibility as it teamed up with Stanford University's Folding@home project, and all this in order to harness the PS3's technology to help study how proteins are formed in the human body and how they sometimes form incorrectly.Using a powerful new processor called the Cell Broadband Engine, PS3 is able to run highly realistic games like Metal Gear Solid 4, Full Auto 2, and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07. This chip is the same one IBM is using in its supercomputer project for the Department of Energy. This supercomputer is said to be able to reach speeds of one petaflop or 1,000 trillion calculations per second. Because there is so much horsepower in this chip, Sony thought that it might be a good idea to use it for something else. This time, something that could benefit not only gamers, but the whole of mankind as well.
How does the PS3 exactly fit into the scene of medical research?
Well, in observing the process of folding, or that where proteins start out in the body as long as strings of amino acids and have to assemble themselves into complex shapes, it is rather difficult for scientists to observe this because proteins are so small and the process is so fast--about 10 one-millionths of a second, in fact.
Now, scientists use computer simulation instead, But it takes about a day for a computer to simulate a nanosecond, so it would basically take about 30 years for that computer to complete one simulation, and that's a really long time. To be able to make this faster, Folding@home uses a network of about 200,000 personal computers to simulate how proteins assemble themselves! Heck, a network of 10,000 PS3s would run even faster! Vijay Pande, leader of the Stanford Project, says that a network of 10,000 Playstation 3s would increase speeds by a factor of five, and 100,000 would be 50 times faster than what they can do today. "It turns two years into one month, and that's a huge thing for us."
To participate, PS3 owners need only to download a program into the console's hard drive. Then, when they're not playing, they just need to leave their machines on. The Folding@home team will then divide their complex calculations into manageable chunks and then send it to the participating machines. But don't worry, since the program won't run when someone is using the PS3 since it might bog down the game. "What we want is for people to just have to make the decision to contribute electricity and benefit mankind."
Protein formation is important as improperly-formed ones are linked to a number of diseases, including Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, cystic fibrosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gherig's disease), and mad-cow disease. So now, everytime you use your PS3, you're not only using it for entertainment, but more importantly, you're contributing to significant medical research that can cure diseases. See, there's goodwill in gaming, just as it should be.
Via cnn
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Comments
Thats good to know, I already run folding on my home ubuntu linux server, it really doesnt use all that much of the resources.
Well at least when the console comes out. I could argue that not only is it a cheap blue ray player but I could participate in this medical research and save peoples live. ;)
Well this is pretty old news, but the other day I found a podcast that actually goes deep into the subject of folding proteins. It's a long one, and I mean deep, so be prepared. http://www.twit.tv/fib1 Just hit play on that page to listen on your PC.
Sony is just such the little helper. Its Ridge Racer....RIIIIDGGEEE RAAAACER
an acknowlengment of PS3's processor power and network awareness. It is good to do something useful with PS3 resources while you are not playing (most of the time)
thats going to be alot of PS3's running this thing, i wonder what thay could cure if we could get that 30 years done in 1
I’ve recently read some interesting news again. I used ‘again’ because Sony is trying this stupid strategy again. They have tried to use this exact same ruse when they first released the PS2 long time ago. What ruse? They advertised that the PS2 is not a gaming machine (console), it’s a computer. I heard that European countries require import tax only for consoles, and not for personal computers. Sony tried to sell the PS2s as computers, but obviously failed (I heard the judges in those countries rejected). This is a thought-provoking piece of writing and not written for everyone. If you can’t take it so far, stop reading at this point; you’re not worth it. Now, Sony is trying that same stupid ruse again for their PS3. I have come up with a few thoughts. (1) If the PS3 can do every single task I need to do on my personal computer, then ppl have to say, the PS3 is a computer indeed. I think ppl can do more than 1,000 different things on a PC. The PS3 can do like less than 1% of all the items on this list. (2) The biggest reason I can think why ppl choose a console over a PC in terms of hardware is this (On the software side, the quality of console exclusives titles are much higher than the PC exclusive titles). The PS3 is almost as powerful as a custom-built PC which costs about $10,000 (Canadian dollar, 14% taxes included, yes Americans, be quiet, we Canadians have paid 15% until recently). This means you only need to spend much less money, $777 (CAD w/ 14% taxes), to play the most demanding and the newest titles. If the PS3 wants to be qualified as a PC, PS3 must be fully upgradeable; however, this upgradeability theory is the biggest contradiction which will turn away potential PS3 consumers. (3) The only similarity I can find between a ‘PC’ and the ‘PS3’ is that if you look at these two words at some distance, they look alike... @@; (4) Finally, let’s assume that if I’m one of the judges, who’ll decide whether or not the PS3 is a computer, I must say “Stop joking Sony or I’ll find you...” Well, I’ve one more thing to say. “Sony, you only have to pay the import tax only for 90% of the total number of the PS3s you sell in this country. You can save up 10% of all import tax. I think about 90% of all potential PS3 buyers are game addicts who use their personal computers mostly to play videogames (including card and board games); these pitiful 3rd raters play games more than 3 days a week, and more than 1 hour for any given day. So, even though I (a judge) allow the PS3s to be categorized as computers (PCs), PCs are used just like gaming machines (consoles) to 90% of all PS3 buyers.”
Obviously, because per 1 January 2004 that particular tax exemption was scrapped. You wasted a lot of words there.
what about the awesomeness of the mac imkro? It's totally NOT customisable and it doesn't even play games...
well not that well anyway
what about macs? all you can do is put more ram in them.
that guy imkro must have an x box because you are hating on sony tough don't be jelious because you don't live in america.
hmm I think it's a pretty cool idea... who ever thought you could let your console do something usefull for mankind while you're not playing :) Let's hope it actually shows off ( i'm guessing it won't though)
I did Summer research over this kind of stuff. RNA/DNA formations. Did I understand it? Hell no, but I know its very useful. The Dr. I was working with was making asthma medication, so this stuff definitely helps. I will definitely help out when I get my PS3. Screw my company's bandwith.
gaming could actually be helpful for once :)
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