Well, I guess I’ll get right down to blogging some of the projects that I’m working on.
The first one that peaked my interest probably a couple of years back was a program called Folding@home, which was initially released in 2000 by Stanford University. What Folding@home does in a nutshell is the simulation of protein folding and molecular dynamics to find cures for diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s disease, and other forms of cancer. When these proteins fold properly, they help the body fight disease and illness. When these proteins misfold, they can cause diseases such as the ones listed. Through the analysis and research of how these proteins fold, the hope is one day some vaccines and treatments can be found.
Unfortunately, protein folding is computationally expensive to evaluate. The vast amount of computational power that is required to simulate protein folding is done by using distributed computing, where users volunteer their computers and systems to process the simulations. More information and the technical jargon is explained here. A simple cartoon-y video explaining the basics of the program is available here. Apparently, there have been over 100 papers published on the results from the simulations run so far. No cures found yet, but I think this a step in the right direction.
For a time I contributed a couple of hours as an Anonymous user back in college, but my interest for the program waned. Now, for the first time in my life with a fairly decent desktop, I pledge to dedicate more computer time toward the cause:
The only issues is that my bedroom heats up by a couple of degrees. If I stick my hand by the exhaust, it’s like a small heater. To make matters worse, my A/C was not working that well the past couple of days and I woke up a couple nights ago and was a bit sweaty.
Not to fear! My A/C was fixed today (maintenance put more R-22 into the tank). Also, the amount of electricity that I’m using will be a bit higher as well. The math works out that I’m paying an extra ~$8 every month for running the computer from 9pm to 6am every night. Oh well, a small cost for a greater cause in my opinion.
Dedicated to Uncle Riz’s memory.
Greg's Logbook 