There's a project going on at Stanford University that uses personal computers around the world to do protein research. People download their program and run it as a screensaver and it somehow analyzes the code of proteins over the net. This, they hope, can lead to new discoveries in genes and diseases and they're able to do it much faster with a large base of personal computers.

To start running the program, go to http://folding.stanford.edu, sign up and download the program. It works on all post 3.1 versions of Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.

I signed up a week or so ago and it's a simple, unintrusive program. I thought that it would be a good way for us as a group, to help the scientific community, so I've taken the liberty, through their teams function, to set up an AWADtalk team. To sign up with our team, go to the Preferences panel in the program and put the ID number 3438.

Good idea, Jazzo. There was an article in Scientific American on such collective computer usage about two months ago, if memory serves aright. Don't look now, but a Borg vessel approaches! We are a pat of the collective!

Hi Jazzo, I've been running the SETI analysis screensaver on and off. I find it somewhat less, um, immediate!

Pay no attention to the man on the screen -- it's just Big Brother watching you!

I do not understand it and therefore distrust it! Nowhere have I found any explanation as to *how my protein is "collected" it's all very strange -- do I want my protein floating around the Internet? -- what use can it be put to by others who get the technology from Stanford -- they say in faqs they will make all results available to all for free.
Thanks anyway Jazzo, but no thanks!
Now, how did you get SETI, CApK and what is it collecting. I thought it was a listening to outer space program. ???

wow, it doesn't use your protein. The program just processes all of the vast information they already have into understandable pieces. There's no privacy concern because your personal information doesn't have anything to do with the research.