from Tales of Hoffman
Can your computer find the cure for SARS? Maybe. According Wired Magazine, 15,000 people have already downloaded software from D2OL that uses your spare computer cycles in concert with others over the Internet to process data that purports to help find a cure.
Distributed computing, also called grid computing, can screen potential drugs much faster than researchers in a laboratory. "They (researchers) can't in a short time screen millions of compounds, but on the computer you can" according to the Rothberg Institute for Childhood Diseases.
Distributed computing works by individuals making their Internet connected computers available and during idle times the processing power is used to help solve complex equations. By linking thousands of our everyday computers, the raw power of a supercomputer can be generated.
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