Posted on 08/26/2006 6:45:54 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
The spare processing power of Sony's PlayStation 3 (PS3) will be harnessed by scientists trying to understand the cause of diseases like Alzheimer's. Sony has teamed up with US biologists who already run the distributed computing project, folding@home (FAH).
The project harnesses the capacity of thousands of PCs to examine how the shape of proteins, critical to most biological functions, affect disease. FAH say a network of PS3's will allow performance similar to supercomputers. With 10,000 machines joined together the researchers calculate they should be able to do a thousand trillion calculations per second. If that was achieved it would be nearly four times as fast as the world's most powerful supercomputer, IBM's BlueGene/L System, capable of 280.6 trillion calculations per second. Complex problems Distributed computing is a way of solving large complex problems by dividing them between many computers.
Volunteers download a piece of software that uses their PC or PS3's processing power when it is idle.
In this way small packets of data can be crunched by individual machines, before being automatically fed back over the internet to a central computer where all of the results can be viewed together. The method is already used by scientists examining millions of simulations of how malaria spreads to look for ways to control the disease. Other groups are searching through thousands of hours of radio telescope signals for signs of extra-terrestrial intelligence. Biological processes The FAH uses distributed computing to examine protein folding and how it maybe linked to diseases. The way in which proteins contort underpins almost every biological process. When they do not fold correctly they can cause diseases such as Huntington's, Parkinson's disease, and many cancers. Scientists still do not entirely understand how or why this process occurs. To try to gain a better understanding, scientists need to simulate the complex folding process.
However, although a fold may take just ten millionths of a second (10 microseconds) in the body, it takes far longer to simulate on a computer. An average PC would take all day just to simulate just one billionth of a second (one nanosecond) of protein folding, and 10,000 days to simulate a complete fold. Dividing the problem up allows the researchers to speed through many more simulations. Advanced gaming The scientists hope the arrival of the PS3 will take this research up another level. Sony has demonstrated a piece of protein-folding software that will run on its PS3 when it is launched in November. The PS3 has a powerful processor known as a "cell", which will run up to 10 times faster than current PC chips. A graphical interface, also being developed between Sony and FAH, will eventually allow users and the scientists to look at the protein from different angles as it folds in real-time.
The new interface takes advantage of the PS3's graphics chip, designed for advanced gaming. The graphics application is currently undergoing tests and is expected to be finished by September. When the program is released to PS3 owners, the scientists say they will be able to "address questions previously considered impossible to tackle computationally".
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Wait a minute - a group of FReepers are already doing this - dangnabbit - Sony just wants to beat us to the #1 spot!!! Who has the Folding ping list???
(one side note, since this would be on playstations, the DUmmies will probably claim that gamers are obviously ALL flaming libs, so they should be able to claim all of Sony's points for the DUmp - that would be the ONLY way they could ever pass us in the folding standings)
If you're already folding, please ping any lists you have to this thread. Thanks for helping.
RT
BTTT
Ain't this a little bit like leaving the keys in the car outside a beer joint?
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That ZTech website page is a bit confusing....the picture of a classic PC motherboard surely must go with the standard PC boxes on the bottom of the page.....
Carolyn
See the link at post #5....and ask some questions....
I think that PS3 will be a big hit when it debuts in November. It will also make an impact in the world of distributed computing, such as Folding@Home.
FR has had a folding team for about 2 1/2 years and it really grew starting last November. We have leapfrogged up to #70 in the world. Please join us if you desire; it really is for a good cause. We will provide all the help you will need to get started.
Many geeks will grab a PS3 if the games are good, and the technology has the potential to be revolutionary.
I may have found a replacement for my Nintendo 16, if the budget committee approves.
Even dialup users can fold for Free Republic. The internet link only needs to be fired up a couple of times per week.
The computer can chug along for a week finishing a work unit, and even slower computers can crunch proteins. The internet connection is a small part of the overall process.
Please FReepmail me if you have questions!
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Thanks for ping! Glad to be a FR gamer and folder!
Is that where I left them? I wondered how I got home without them. LOL
Series, FAH works fine behind a firewall and the server only sends you a Work Unit when the program requests it. And, the only data sent back to the server is the results of folding the protein. Distributed computing has been around for several years and is safe when run by large university research programs.
"Glad to be a FR gamer and folder!"
We got games??? I've been on FR for 8 years and nobody told me we have games. Why didn't someone tell me that FR has games? What kinda games? How do I find them? Can I play? Awww, come on, my breath doesn't smell that bad. Pretty please? Have the Admin Mods been talking about me again? I swear, I haven't stunk up any threads - well, except for a few - and that was a loooong time ago - at least a couple of hours. Do I have to wait until I grow up - out of my 2nd, no 3rd, childhood?
;^D
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