One Article Review
| Source |  AlienVault Blog |
|---|---|
| Identifiant | 1669584 |
| Date de publication | 2020-04-22 12:00:00 (vue: 2020-04-22 12:08:07) |
| Titre | Donating while you sleep |
| Texte |
This blog was written by an independent guest blogger.
By now, you have probably come to the stark realization that we are indeed living in the most interesting times. Even the most hard-core introverts have noticed the value of human interaction. It is how our species has survived. One of the biggest challenges of our new, isolated existence is our sense of Locus of Control. One common sentiment during times of uncertainty is the desire to help. Most people want to help, but not all have the means to do so. Fortunately, there is a way to help that costs no money at all.
Have you heard of distributed computing power? This is where a group of computers are given a task that is too great for a single computer to solve. The computer is used for the distributed computing task while the CPU is idle. Many folks never turn off their computers, so there are plenty of hours when the processor is doing nothing; just sitting, and awaiting some instruction. There is an effort underway to combat the COVID-19 virus using distributed computing. It is known as Folding@Home.
I first became aware of crowdsourced distributed computing back when it was being used in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, known as the SETI experiment. I chuckled that anyone would waste any computing cycles for such a trivial pursuit. Recently, however, in a Twitter post by Lesley Carhart, I learned of the existence of Folding@Home project. The distributed computing game has changed dramatically, finding uses in many disease research endeavors.
Of course, I was skeptical about the entire thing at first. As I researched it a bit, it appears to be legitimate. The involvement of many other folks in the InfoSec community added credibility to the project.
Currently, the aim of the Folding@Home initiative is to explore protein behaviors to seek therapies for the COVID-19 virus. You can read about protein chains, and how their behaviors affect all aspects of life on the FoldingAtHome.org web site. However, if you do not want to read all about it, I can assure you that you have seen protein folding behavior throughout your life. For example, just drop an egg into a hot frying pan, and you are seeing proteins change their shape in real-time. The understanding of protein behaviors could hold the cure that science is seeking.
You do not need a supercomputer to participate. The idea is that you become part of a larger computer’s processing power by donating your unused computing time. You can grab the software here. There are versions for all operating systems, and the installation is fast, and easy. I have mine running on an old laptop on which I installed a copy of Linux Mint.
As reported on April 8th, the Folding@Home effort had achieved more than an exaFLOP of computing power. This is incredible, and if you are part of the collective that helped to reach that milestone, I sincerely thank and a |
| Envoyé | Oui |
| Condensat | that 8th about achieved added affect aim all any anyone appears applaud april are aspects assure awaiting aware back became become behavior behaviors being biggest bit blog blogger but can carhart chains challenges change changed chuckled collective combat come common community computer computer’s computers computing consider control copy core costs could course covid cpu credibility crisis crowdsourced cure currently cycles desire disease distributed doing donating done downloaded dramatically drop during easy effort egg endeavors entire even event exaflop example existence experiment explore extraterrestrial fast finding first folding folding@home foldingathome folks fortunately frying game given good grab great group guest had hard harm’s has have heard help helped here history hold horrible hot hours how however human idea idle imagine incredible indeed independent infosec initiative installation installed instruction intelligence interaction interesting introverts involvement isolated job just key known laptop larger learned legitimate lesley life linux living locus make many means milestone mine mint money more most need never new not nothing; noticed now off old one operating org other pan part participate people plenty positively post power probably processing processor project protein proteins pursuit put reach read real realization recently reported research researched results running science search seeing seek seeking seen sense sentiment seti shape sincerely single site sitting skeptical sleep software solve some species stark such supercomputer survived systems task than thank themselves therapies thing throughout time times too treatment trivial turn twitter uncertainty understanding underway unused used uses using value versions virus want waste way web when where which who would written yet you your |
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