Everyone knows that the Cell Processor in Sony’s PlayStation 3 is powerful, which will push the next generation of video games. But did you know that scientists are using this impressive microchip as a way of understanding the cause of diseases like Alzheimer’s?
Yes, you have read that right. Sony are joining forces with American biologists who are already running a distributed computing project named ‘folding@home’ (FAH).
This project harnesses the capacity of thousands of computers to examine how the shape of proteins, critical to most biological functions, affect disease.
FAH say a network of PlayStation 3s will allow performance similar to supercomputers.
With 10,000 machines joined together the researchers can calculate complicated data at thousand trillion calculations per second. Impressive.
Read more about this fascinating technology from BBC News.
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Yas V says:
ah, they really use it to spy on internet usage. to decrypt passwords etc and genarally sift through complex data. Nothing to do with medical reasons at all.
Aug 26, 2006, 4:49 pmPlayStation 3: the cure for cancer | eMagi says:
[...] in August 2006, eMagi reported that the Cell-powered PlayStation 3 had enough processing power to help scientists find [...]
Aug 26, 2006, 9:23 pm