Using the PS3 to cure real-life diseases

[Swiss Miss]

DailyTech - Folding@home Enlists the Power of PS3's Cell Broadband Engine

Sony hopes to cure diseases with PlayStation 3

While Nintendo DS and Wii gamers can take the role of a surgeon to save fictional lives in the Trauma Center-series, owners of a PlayStation 3 will soon be able to use their new game system to help find real-life cures to diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, cystic fibrosis and many cancers.
The PlayStation 3 will soon have the capability to connect to Stanford University's Folding@home program, a distributed computing project aimed at understanding protein folding, misfolding and related diseases.
After the hype surrounding the power of the Cell Broadband Engine, Folding@home could be the first application to harness some of the console’s yet untapped capabilities. According to Sony, the Cell processor inside each PS3 is roughly 10 times faster than a standard mainstream PC chip at protein folding calculations. Researchers are able to perform the simulations much faster, speeding up the research process.
“Millions of users have experienced the power of PS3 entertainment. Now they can utilize that exceptional computing power to help fight diseases,” said Masayuki Chatani, corporate executive and CTO, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. “In order to study protein folding, researchers need more than just one super computer, but the massive processing power of thousands of networked computers. Previously, PCs have been the only option for scientists, but now, they have a new, more powerful tool -- PS3.”
The process of folding proteins is incredibly complex, with simulations taking up to 30 years for a single computer to complete. Folding@home enables this task to be shared among thousands of computers connected via the network, utilizing distributed computing technology. Once the data is processed, the information is sent back via the Internet to the central computer.
“We are thrilled to have SCE be part of the Folding@home project,” said Vijay Pande, Associate Professor of Chemistry at Stanford University and Folding@home project lead. “With PS3 now part of our network, we will be able to address questions previously considered impossible to tackle computationally, with the goal of finding cures to some of the world's most life-threatening diseases.”
According to details from the Folding@home Web site, PS3 is able “to achieve performance previously only possible on supercomputers,” with each computer likely “able to attain performance on the 100 gigaflop scale.” With about 10,000 such machines, or about 1 percent of all PlayStation 3 consoles in the U.S., performance on the petaflop scale would be added to Folding@home.
The PS3 version of the Folding@home software will also feature an upgraded, flashier interface. The Cell processor will be consumed with simulations, but the NVIDIA RSX GPU will be free to provide a visual representation of the actual folding process in real-time with graphical effects such as HDR and ISO surface rendering. Users will also be granted a small bit of interactivity by using the SIXAXIS controller to navigate the 3D space of the molecule to look at the protein from different angles in real-time. For a video of a prototype of the GUI for the PS3 client, check out Folding@home’s PS3 FAQ.
A Folding@home icon will be added to the Network menu of the XMB (XrossMediaBar) via a software update expected at the end of March. PS3 users can join the program by simply clicking on the Folding@home icon or can optionally set the application to run automatically whenever the PS3 is idle.

[Sparkplug1990]

WOW, Now I need more words to get the eight word limit.

[RickTheRipper]

So now we can be heroes in the fight against disease? YAY!

I want my Nobel Peace Prize and 1 million dollars.

[tha123]

i think this is great, it takes normal computers years to do this but if 2 mil ps3s do this it will take months. i think this will turn out to be a good thing for fighting those diseases. and you can save lives when your ps3 is lets say...
1. charging battery for your six-axis
2. put ur ps3 on the folding@home and go make a burger come back and maybe you helped the whole world... imagine helping cure diseases while you take a dump.

[TheVietCong]

I do folding@home with on my PS3 when its on but I am not playing...

[Subject 17]

Yeah, just leave it on for like a day at a time now. It pizzowns those work units. And i really like the visuals too, playing with the ball and stick, looking at the ISO surface and stuff.

[Swiss Miss]

I downloaded it this weekend and it was pretty neat to look at. I wish that it had some kind of auto-startup option or something like that for when your system is left on, but idle (like a screensaver). I can't seriously foresee myself going and turning it on before I am done playing. It's not that it's so much effort to do that, but I just wont think about it.

[TheVietCong]

Originally Posted by Swiss Miss

I downloaded it this weekend and it was pretty neat to look at. I wish that it had some kind of auto-startup option or something like that for when your system is left on, but idle (like a screensaver). I can't seriously foresee myself going and turning it on before I am done playing. It's not that it's so much effort to do that, but I just wont think about it.

Dboyz: What ball and stick are you talking about?

There is

Its in setting some where...or you push triangle on the Folding@home icon.

[Pvt.Dirt]

I have a belief that video games can cure depression and other diseases. I mean look at it, you would think depressed people would need something fun and amazing to break their depression. So, you get them playing a fun game and it slowly starts to go away. I could be crazy about this, but I stick with my beliefs.

[Swiss Miss]

I set up a Folding@Home group for the forums if anyone wants to join in. Just go to the OPTIONS menu (by pressing Triangle) once in the program, go to IDENTITY, select "Join an Existing Team" and enter our ID number which is "64072".

Stats page is: http://fah-web.stanford.edu/teamstats/team64072.html

EDIT:
The stats page the site provided (linked above) doesn't seem to work, but this one should:
Folding@Home