Some people are hesitant to help the world because it takes too much time and energy, or wonder if their efforts really make a difference. There's a way that you can help the world without having to do anything at all, and it certainly makes a difference.
With the World Community Grid (www.worldcommunitygrid.org), you can volunteer your computer's idle time to do important scientific research that benefits humanity. This project, sponsored by IBM and running on a proxy program created by UC Berkley and sponsored by the National Science Foundation, connects computers all over the world to create a virtual supercomputer. Currently, there are 416,701 active members with 1,137,635 computers connected to it, and it considered among the top 10 supercomputers in the world.
This program currently is conducting 6 projects, which include one for cancer research, AIDS drug research, one finding ways to optimize rice production for underdeveloped countries, one for the human protein research (which is crucial for finding new medicines), research for drugs related to hepatitis C, West Nile, and Yellow fever viruses, and most recently, research for solar power.
This program which you download (it takes up very small amounts of hard drive space) runs based on your preferences, and acts like a screen saver--a screen saver that does scientific research, that is! Helping this project is one of the easiest ways you can have a significant impact on the world, and I hope you join in!
recommend this
email
print
link to this page
Comments: 3
Maybe someone will do it, it just won't be me.