Help medical research via Folding@Home, PS3 FW1.6

It’s been a while since we last heard anything about the Folding@Home project. For those who may not be familiar with the term (or for those who forget), the Folding@Home project is an ongoing scientific project which involves the study of protein folding and other diseases that are related to folding. These include AlzheimerÂ’s Disease, ParkinsonÂ’s Disease, Huntington’s Disease, cystic fibrosis, and some cancer types. Well, sometime last year, Sony spoke up and said that they wanted to pitch in for this venture.

Now, this is how the whole study goes: the project needs to create simulations which show how the proteins work. These simulations are, in turn, created by ordinary citizens who are willing to share a bit of bandwidth. This is done by a program which is sent to a PC owner who can then install the program in his own system, and then let the program run either when the system is idle, or in the background, while the PC owner is working.

The program will then let the CPU process data from the project, and then send it back to the project’s main computer. The main computer will then compile and process the data that it receives from the millions of computers that were volunteered for the project. The scientists of Stanford University analyze the data, and we get one step closer to a happier world.

Find out the major role that YOUR PS3 may soon be playing in this project, right after the jump!

It’s been a while since we last heard anything about the Folding@Home project. For those who may not be familiar with the term (or for those who forget), the Folding@Home project is an ongoing scientific project which involves the study of protein folding and other diseases that are related to folding. These include AlzheimerÂ’s Disease, ParkinsonÂ’s Disease, Huntington’s Disease, cystic fibrosis, and some cancer types. Well, sometime last year, Sony spoke up and said that they wanted to pitch in for this venture.

Now, this is how the whole study goes: the project needs to create simulations which show how the proteins work. These simulations are, in turn, created by ordinary citizens who are willing to share a bit of bandwidth. This is done by a program which is sent to a PC owner who can then install the program in his own system, and then let the program run either when the system is idle, or in the background, while the PC owner is working.

The program will then let the CPU process data from the project, and then send it back to the project’s main computer. The main computer will then compile and process the data that it receives from the millions of computers that were volunteered for the project. The scientists of Stanford University analyze the data, and we get one step closer to a happier world.

How the PS3 figures in this whole thing is rather significant, as Sony has offered one of the best things that they have right now: the power of the Cell Processor. As it goes, Sony has just announced that with the release of Fw 1.6 for the PS3, one of the things that PS3 owners will be finding with the update will be the addition of the Folding@Home software to their XMB. The program can then either launch manually, or can be set to run automatically whenever the PS3 is idle.

This seems to be a rather welcome way of doing a good deed for the world, and as Sony Computer Entertainment International (SCEI) CEO Masayuki Chatani has put it,

Millions of users have experienced the power of PS3 entertainment. Now they can utilize that exceptional computing power to help fight diseases … 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.

So, once FW1.6 comes along, keep in mind that you may just be helping save the lives of your loved ones or friends, simply by letting your PS3 go idle while you have a sandwich. Feels good, doesn’t it?