SETI at Home; Folding at Home

Want to help out science on a daily basis just by using your computer?  These are two options that are available to you - I find both to be great causes!

SETI, or the "Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence," has been collecting and analyzing radio signals from all over skies since the 1960s in the hunt for other intelligent life in our cosmos.  Unsure where exactly to point the telescopes or what frequency to find information on, SETI has more data than it can possibly go through.  Instead of filling up the processing capabilities on a few computers, these scientists have decided to spread out the information on many computers across the world.  Your computer, which will still functions normally while performing SETI analysis in the background, can be one!  Look it up, sign up, and check it out here: http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/

Biological scientists study proteins every single day.  Each one is created as a string of amino acids, but then folds up on itself to create a 3-dimensional structure capable of fulfilling some function (Lost?  Check out my Central Dogma post!)  Each string of amino acids folds into a shape that is specific, but we still don't understand many of the links between amino acid sequence and final, 3-dimensional shape.  Programs exist to model protein folding, but they require large processing capabilities.  Much like SETI@home, Folding@home also works by breaking down a large job into many smaller jobs capable of being run in the background on your home computer.  The information gained from these models can be helpful for future treatments in all sorts of human diseases.  Find out more on their website: http://folding.stanford.edu/English/HomePage