Sorry my origional post was filled by more emotion then facts so I updated it. Anyway My cosin got his PH.D researching p53 and p21. He discovered a relationship between them and how p21 malfuctions can lead to defective p53. In some cases this malfuction causes cancer. I respect those with degrees who posted here, me myself have had only the experience of watching my cosins defence of his PH.D, some talks with him and website information.
Folding@Home is amazing. I dedicate to do it every night and most of the day while I am at school. My father died of cancer so this project is personal to me. Every night and most of the day. Even if not directly cancer, because it does reseach on other desease. Not magic but it Helps. Just a small push into gettting closer. Just a small helping hand.
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While not some magic that will cure everything it is important and needs to be continued whie small. Again it Helps.
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And being around chemists in my family for many years I know alot about the impications of this program. My cosin was one of the main reseachers in dicovering how protiens like p53 stop poduction and how it effects p21 and vice versa.
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KaptainKernal
sorry about your dad, but yeah the PS3 will definitly help. I heard it takes the PS3 2 weeks to go through what takes a normal PC 30 years or soemthign like that. it was some huge difference in processing time.
my only worry is, how much is the foldign gonna tax the system? i mean i know you cant do other thigns while its folding but it cant be good to have to processor constintly working for like 12 hours straight.
Ya. I was worried about that to but then I realized I havent turned my PC off in almost a year. It won't damage it really. Besides the HDD is removeable and I got a year warrenty at EB's I can renew every year anyway.
The only thing to worry about as far as taxing the system is wearing out the Blu Ray drive. The console itself has been proven to function without problems for over 1100 hours straight, ongoing. Cancer is a terrible disease, yes, but when you consider the absolutely horrific amount of money and man-hours that have gone into studying and treating it, to think that even 1 million of the 2 million current PS3 owners should give their $600 consoles to continue the operation further is absolutely staggering. We haven't the slightest idea whether this disease is even curable. It is fantastic that we are able to have this initiative available to us. The PS3 is a powerful gaming machine, but the Cell is so capable in the realm of data processing it is not even funny. It blows absolutely everything out of the water. The combined muscle of all of these machines, even if it's only 10,000 at any given time, should give them more than the computing power they should ever need. Networked PS3s working simultaneously apparently deliver unheard-of data processing and image rendering performance.
As a physician I constantly dread every time I have to tell someone they have cancer. Although I'm new at the field, I've already said it a couple of times. I am very impressed with Folding@Home and I will promote it in any way I can at the hospital. I lost my girlfriend and an aunt from cancer and even if Folding@Home only helps a little bit, I think anyone with a PS3 or a computer should apply for it.Â
My grandpa now has only one lung because of cancer and my grandma(both of them) have skin cancer and have multiple thing like that removed....and my mom has had precancerous spots on her skin removed, im all for this i dont want my grandpa to die from cancer....... it would be extremely sad and i love the fact that ps3 is on right now, upstairs folding proteins as we speak.
I'm a scientist at Southern Research Institute in Maryland, USA.
I think it's important for me to inform everyone that Folding at Home is not for cancer research, but simply to understand how proteins fold based upon their amino acid sequences. That said, this program is limited by the programming and the application of the scientists at Stanford Universities Chemistry department.
The program has led to approximatelly 50 scientific research articles being published on the subject of medicinal chemistry. While this may seem impressive, none of this information has led to clinical research of any significance.
Just wanted to get the word out. This program was made to predict protein folding and that is the ONLY thing it does. It does not magically cure cancer.
Dust24311
It's not only for that but folding@home binds consoles and computers alike to apparently form some super computer to help simulate real life problems. We know it's not going to create a magical cure, but it's helping scientists figure out problems and so forth. It's not only to educate but to help. I think you missed that whole bit.
WRONG, it does not "simulate real life problems". It takes a protein of interest and folds it based upon amino acid folding rules. The program assigns batches (work units) to clusters of processors and returns the information to Stanford. It is simply a scientific tool, not a magical "real life problem" solver. You must understand that it is my duty as a scientist to inform people that they are using a tool so that they don't get disappointed when FAH doesn't cure cancer later this year. I'm really trying to be nice here, but when people are talking about empirical scientific evidence, you can only go with the facts. :)they are using the information towards treating things like cancer go the the f@h page and read it or stop trolling here
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