UPDATE for those looking at the tail end of this thread -
CANCER.
The most notorious mass killer of the twentieth century - through modern means and study - it is being solved. But the human genome being as complex as it is, the computer system resources are astronomical.
At Stanford university, some bright minds (rising stars, really) have come up with the idea that if the resources do not exist, or are far too expensive to be made available, then the next possibility is to out-source packets of information to be processed by any one of us who have a computer capable of chewing on the numbers and arriving at useful answers - the internet is perfect for this use!
The basic program is downloaded (less than 400KB) in under a minute or so even on dial up. The first Work Unit (WU) is downloaded shortly after the program loads and runs, thereafter - so long as your PC is on, it runs in the background and interferes with nothing.
At some point it is done with processing the WU, and uploads the result, then it downloads the next WU and begins on it.
The total effect is as if instead of one single computer at work - a computer the size of the entire planet (or so we hope) is solving the problem. Certainly much larger than any computer a simple institute could possibly afford.
And the more people who join in this effort, the faster the problem can be solved.
In ten years, the computer you have at home (YES. The very one you are using right now) will be gathering dust in a closet because you will have most likely upgraded to something else. But you may, just possibly, point it out to a visitor some day far in the future and tell them:
"You see that thing right there? THAT ONE made history..."
We ARE the FTE folding team - our team number is 53449
This is a good thing, we can DO THIS! See the first posts for more info.
Stanford University Gene Folding project
-Ken
