Folding@home Details
PS3 to diseases: Screw you.

March 15, 2007 - Hey, Alzheimer's, the gamers are coming for you.

Officals from Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. and Stanford University's Folding@home program met on the college campus and announced that the long-hyped PS3 program that will crunch data on disease is set to go live at the end of the month.

"It's really a perfect fit for us because it lets us apply our technological advancement to something that is so good and so important," said Richard Marks, senior researcher with Sony Computer Entertainment America. "One of the main reasons we're here today is just kind of a call to action to PlayStation 3 owners."

Alzheimer's, cancer, Parkinson's and cystic fibrosis all involve proteins being folded wrong in some way or another. It's a complicated process that scientists are trying to understand in hopes of creating cures and preventative measures for these ailments.

"We want to understand what is going on at a microscopic scale," said Vijay Pande, associate professor of Chemistry at Stanford and the Folding@home project lead.

The problem is, creating simulations that mimic microscopic, misfolding proteins takes a while. A long while. Folding@home started "distributed computing," a program that sent packets of data to participating computers for computation, in October 2000, and it took two years to calculate the initial Alzheimer's information, Pande said.

Enter the PS3.

Using it's Cell Broadband Engine, Sony's pride and joy can run these simulations roughly 20 to 30 times faster than the standard PC. If the two million PS3 units in homes across the globe jump on the Folding@home train, researchers hope to accomplish what once took them years in a matter of months.

"That's a huge amount of computation power overall," Marks said.

Packaged with a system update expected to go live at the end of March, Folding@home will pop up on the XrossMediaBar and feature two ways for gamers to get their cure on - PS3 owners can either click on the Folding@home icon to enter the program or set the application up to run automatically anytime the PS3 enters idle mode from the XMB screen.

Whatever way you choose, the protein data is downloaded from Stanford, crunched on your unit and uploaded back to Stanford.

If you choose to click the icon yourself, you'll be treated with a model of a protein fold. The motley image of rods connected to red, blue and yellow balls vibrates and bounces in the center of the screen while the computer manipulates the data. If a quick image of the model grabs your attention, you can pause the image and rotate it while the actual processing continues on.

Although you probably won't spend hours staring at your flat-screen while Folding@home goes to work - even though you can change the HD visualization and zoom in and out - there are some nifty features the number cruncher comes equipped with. A user can personalize their machine's name, keep track of the number of protein folds the system has completed work on, check how far along the current fold is, see the latest project news and view a live map to see how many other PS3s are working on complex protein problems.

Of course, it wouldn't be a video game without competition.

Users can create and join teams to track the total numbers of projects completed and see how they're fairing against users across the world. To create a team, users choose the option from the Folding@home screen and are redirected to the Stanford homepage through the PS3 Web browser. Once created, give your team number to friends and they join in a similar program-to-browser move. A list of teams will be available on the Stanford Web site, but there is no way to keep riff-raff researchers from joining your team.

"There's a lot here for users to do if they choose, but as I mentioned before, all they have to do is click on it and it's helping," Marks said.
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IGN
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/772/772947p1.html
http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/3619/foldinghomedetails20070wo5.jpg

This is a great idea.

i dont get it , ps3 can cure cancer ?

Umm? Please explain? @.@

Lol,read it a while ago.

Don't believe it.

You know that sitting is a form of exercise.
Typing is another form of exercise.
Intense concentration are good for your mind, since it`s like exercising it.

Playing Computer is definitely healthy.

You actually think this is a fake?


Medical research labs are trying to find out protein codes of a solution to make a medicine for cancer, altz, ect.

The ps3 is so strong that it can acctually be made of use to labs. So sony is releasing this in their next official firmware. If your ps3 goes idle and can be processing and trying out codes. The more people the faster the process.

Brilliant use of the cell.

Who's the little dude all over your posts, Icy?

Anyways, wow. A PS3 that helps with sickies. Truly amazing. Now Sony is actually good for something!

so who's gonna leave their PS3 on and take use up more electricity so you can pay more for the electric bill?

My PS3 is on nonstop. Actually the PS3 doesn't use that much power, however your monitor or TV does. I think it's a great idea. I don't mind running it, but the teams or whatever, that's stupid. I'm just not sure how a computer can crunch numbers.

they have programs like this already on computers, but they are not as efficient because there is no standard computer as there is ps3.

I'm looking forward to other people using my $600 processing power. BTW, can I add this to my College Application as community service? XD

ok, sony has completly gone retarded lmao

ok, sony has completly gone retarded lmao

Because saving lives is retarded. +20 for Zynosphere!

folding@home has been around for a long time. The site is here:
http://folding.stanford.edu/

I've folded under 4chan's name quite a few times. There are some people on the 4chan team that have a little home-based data center and have folding@home running off half the systems(ie:30+computers running, half or more running folding)


It's also a great program to use to test stability. Just have it run 24 hours at full load and if your system doesn't crash, its good.
It's what my friends do when ever they over-clock a system, before they even start running programs and such. Test it with that.


As for the nay-sayers... Don't understand why you're like that... Do you even understand what the artical is saying?

ok, sony has completly gone retarded lmao

Yeah, if you suddenly got cancer, I'm pretty sure that you would be all for this.

Oy.

Anyways, this is pretty awesome. If I had 600$ to waste on a PS3 I would deff. do this. Sadly, Ima poor teenager. Anyways, atleast Sony is thinking of other people and being ethic.

Fabian, it probably my computer, but your sig is going over associated's post. :(

never mind. relod works wonders.

I still don't believe it can detect cancer cells.More like a scheme to get parents to buy it?

We'll never know.

But if it's true,well that's great!Obese people are usualy the 50% majority of gamers and they might get diseases caused from...beeing fat.Like heart attacks.

No offence intended to obese people and numbers aren't accurate,just a 13 year old boy estimative :D

You see, this is the PS3s way of battling with the Wii. The Wii fights obesity with Wii Sports. The PS3 fights it by finding cures to it. Once again, PS3>Wii.

Also, most-likely the program will be included in one of the firmware updates.

Don't go fanboying.

'Cause i'm not.

PS3=Wii=360
Also:

Wii=You sweat,you'll only burns calories and it doesn't fight obesity.It PREVENTS obesity :D.

I read this a LONG time ago in a magazine,i still havn't figured out it works.Like,does it send your data to a lab?
I think they better get one of those contract agreement pages so they don't get sued!Evil people could actualy turn an advantage against themselfs.

It's like America and outsourcing jobs.

Ok so they send out someone to find employment in another place (your PS3) because it's taking too long to make shoes (crunch numbers). Well when the workers in China (your PS3) are done making a certain number of shoes (crunching numbers), the company (your PS3) sends them back to America (wherever they process the data). When they recieve the shoes (data), you will get another set of shoes to make (numbers to crunch). Basically the PS3 runs 20 to 30 times faster than a normal PC so they're using the PS3s. Also, if you went and bought a super computer for like making pictures in photoshop, chances are, you won't have a very good GPU (Graphical Processing Unit) and that's what folding@home uses. That's also why they pick the PS3 cuz it owns.

Ouch,that's some powahfah processing power.

Too bad i don't have the 600€ to afford one :p.Wonder if the price will go down in like,2 years,to 250€.

..if u want exercise with vid games go to a gym wher eits goes the bike game u gotta pedal to make it go

or play on a wii
but sitting down is never good for u..i did it for a day and my ribs and my middle body was so soar and weak if that would of happened 3 days straight says mum who has been a nurse for 10 years now i would of have to been rushed to hosptial for rib lung and stomach dmg lol

so dont sit down for ages it makes u fat and very unhealthy and a chance to dmg ur middle body

and what really tops it off im a bloody healthy kid too i like my calcuim and fruit n veg

I still don't believe it can detect cancer cells.More like a scheme to get parents to buy it?

We'll never know.

But if it's true,well that's great!Obese people are usualy the 50% majority of gamers and they might get diseases caused from...beeing fat.Like heart attacks.

No offence intended to obese people and numbers aren't accurate,just a 13 year old boy estimative :D

I have nothing against you Darc, but that post was not even worthy of calling yourself a 10 year-old.

It does nothin to detect cancer in any way. Cancer has (well every cell) a certain set of order DNA and Protien code. We do not know a code that works because there are millions of combinations.

were lucky cancer will be curable in a few years
at least the cells never change like the common cold

were lucky cancer will be curable in a few years
at least the cells never change like the common cold

Theres so many different types of cancer its not even funny -.-

Why do you think theres hundreds of Chemos? Not that i beleive in chemo therapy. I believe in anti-o's in fruit vegies and what not. Also alternative "drugs" such as vitamin b17.

Ganix,who said 'cure'?Detect and cure ARE NOT the same.

It's what they said they are investigating,anyway.

Alzheimer's, cancer, Parkinson's and cystic fibrosis all involve proteins being folded wrong in some way or another. It's a complicated process that scientists are trying to understand in hopes of creating cures and preventative measures for these ailments


Well,the obese people part was kind of stupid but the truth is obese people are more sick than regular people.

I agree sorta. On the news they said they've made a breakthrough in the medical world and announced that exercise can prevent fatal diseases. XD. This was like a week ago too...

Also, the reason that Obese people are more vulnerable is simple: your immune system is the only way to stay healthy. The only way to build your immune system is to exercise and obese people tend not to exercise. Now, when I said sorta before, I meant it. Sumo (sp?) Wrestlers tend to be really obese but are actually very healthy. You can't say that just because I person has collected fat, doesn't mean they are unhealthy. Actually, sumo Wrestlers tend to be very healthy citizens.

Ganix,who said 'cure'?Detect and cure ARE NOT the same.

It's what they said they are investigating,anyway.

Alzheimer's, cancer, Parkinson's and cystic fibrosis all involve proteins being folded wrong in some way or another. It's a complicated process that scientists are trying to understand in hopes of creating cures and preventative measures for these ailments


Well,the obese people part was kind of stupid but the truth is obese people are more sick than regular people.

What the hell are you talking about?
You are the one who said "detect cancer".

I believe this will work. If like million people buy this game someone WILL find the cure. I view this as "When beta for a game starts SOMEONE finds an exploit and uses it". Same will happen for this game. SOMEONE out there will find a cure and claim his name in the world as the best man alive.

I believe this will work. If like million people buy this game someone WILL find the cure. I view this as "When beta for a game starts SOMEONE finds an exploit and uses it". Same will happen for this game. SOMEONE out there will find a cure and claim his name in the world as the best man alive.

YOU DONT BUY IT
ITS NOT A GAME
AND IT COMES IN THE FREE FIRMWARE.

lol why would you pay money to help them?
thats basically what we call charity.

YOU DONT BUY IT
ITS NOT A GAME
AND IT COMES IN THE FREE FIRMWARE.

lol why would you pay money to help them?
thats basically what we call charity.

Yeah, why should we? Why should we help them cure the disease of the world....Oh wait....that's right....because we live on EARTH and not MARS.
We might as well go out and jump in the sea when its -100 outside.

I've looked through and not a SINGLE person here understands what this is. Not one of you.
Sometimes I'll see like one or two that understands it and the rest don't. No, none of you get what this is, how it works, or anything.
Folding@home is a project at Standford University to help understand proteins, molecules, and much more.
Here is the site:
http://folding.stanford.edu/

What this program does is it gathers data on some proteins and starts to run simulations on it. To try and figure out what happens and how it functions. That work is done on individual's computer. It then sends back the results to standford for the scientists to exam.
It's purpose is to not detect or cure cancer. It's to run simulations on proteins. Now, cancer and proteins are interlinked, so they can concentrate on only cancer proteins and such, but it can do so much more than that.
But, in the end, all the program does is run simulations to help understand how it works. If we understand it, we hope that we can cure it.
Not to say that isn't important. This is very important, and they are working on many diseases, the list is on the site.

The PS3, while a powerful game system, does have some weak points. There are some protein folding that will be extreamly hard to do on the PS3 simply because of it's lack of RAM compared to a PC.

It's a good thing, but from what kind of market share the PS3 is getting won't be that big of an increase in performance in their studies.

I've looked through and not a SINGLE person here understands what this is. Not one of you.
Sometimes I'll see like one or two that understands it and the rest don't. No, none of you get what this is, how it works, or anything.
Folding@home is a project at Standford University to help understand proteins, molecules, and much more.
Here is the site:
http://folding.stanford.edu/

What this program does is it gathers data on some proteins and starts to run simulations on it. To try and figure out what happens and how it functions. That work is done on individual's computer. It then sends back the results to standford for the scientists to exam.
It's purpose is to not detect or cure cancer. It's to run simulations on proteins. Now, cancer and proteins are interlinked, so they can concentrate on only cancer proteins and such, but it can do so much more than that.
But, in the end, all the program does is run simulations to help understand how it works. If we understand it, we hope that we can cure it.
Not to say that isn't important. This is very important, and they are working on many diseases, the list is on the site.

The PS3, while a powerful game system, does have some weak points. There are some protein folding that will be extreamly hard to do on the PS3 simply because of it's lack of RAM compared to a PC.

It's a good thing, but from what kind of market share the PS3 is getting won't be that big of an increase in performance in their studies.

That makes lot more sense!

so who's gonna leave their PS3 on and take use up more electricity so you can pay more for the electric bill?

Im not paying for it, who cares? ;)


if PS3 can cure cancer, then we ARE the best console on the market. :)

I've looked through and not a SINGLE person here understands what this is. Not one of you.
Sometimes I'll see like one or two that understands it and the rest don't. No, none of you get what this is, how it works, or anything.
Folding@home is a project at Standford University to help understand proteins, molecules, and much more.
Here is the site:
http://folding.stanford.edu/

What this program does is it gathers data on some proteins and starts to run simulations on it. To try and figure out what happens and how it functions. That work is done on individual's computer. It then sends back the results to standford for the scientists to exam.
It's purpose is to not detect or cure cancer. It's to run simulations on proteins. Now, cancer and proteins are interlinked, so they can concentrate on only cancer proteins and such, but it can do so much more than that.
But, in the end, all the program does is run simulations to help understand how it works. If we understand it, we hope that we can cure it.
Not to say that isn't important. This is very important, and they are working on many diseases, the list is on the site.

The PS3, while a powerful game system, does have some weak points. There are some protein folding that will be extreamly hard to do on the PS3 simply because of it's lack of RAM compared to a PC.

It's a good thing, but from what kind of market share the PS3 is getting won't be that big of an increase in performance in their studies.

I understood it. I even put it into simpler terms on like page 3. I'll copy and past it hold on.

It's like America and outsourcing jobs.

Ok so they send out someone to find employment in another place (your PS3) because it's taking too long to make shoes (crunch numbers). Well when the workers in China (your PS3) are done making a certain number of shoes (crunching numbers), the company (your PS3) sends them back to America (wherever they process the data). When they recieve the shoes (data), you will get another set of shoes to make (numbers to crunch). Basically the PS3 runs 20 to 30 times faster than a normal PC so they're using the PS3s. Also, if you went and bought a super computer for like making pictures in photoshop, chances are, you won't have a very good GPU (Graphical Processing Unit) and that's what folding@home uses. That's also why they pick the PS3 cuz it owns.

Then again, job outsourcing isn't that easy of a subject to understand either.

oooooooo! o.o sony can save lives! 1 more reason that ps3 pwns wii :D

oooooooo! o.o sony can save lives! 1 more reason that ps3 pwns wii :D

Could you LEAVE THE FANBOYISM OUT?

Thank you.

No,Wii isn't pwned-The PS3 just has more processing power for the task.

Could you LEAVE THE FANBOYISM OUT?

Thank you.

No,Wii isn't pwned-The PS3 just has more processing power for the task.

Not to mention the Wii is still on that 2nd generation bullshit meanwhile the PS3 and Xbox 360 are on that 1st.

<Sigh>.

When will Hii and Shii realize that Wii are garbage? >_>