Unless you are a scientist, then it's not often that you get the chance to contribute and find cures for diseases. But with Folding@Home, you can, and all you need is a home computer.
When you are not running CPU intensive programs on your computer, your CPU just sits there, doing nothing. Folding@Home works by using the free (and wasted) CPU cycles to perform complex protein analysis. Protein analysis is the first step in finding cures to diseases such as Alzheimer's, Mad Cow (BSE), CJD, ALS, Huntington's, and Parkinson's.
Worried that your computer will not feel as fast as before when running Folding@Home? Don't be. Due to the way the F@H software is configured, you won't even feel the difference - your computer will automatically give priority to the software you are currently running, so it will still be responsive and fast - but when you do something that doesn't require a lot of CPU power, Folding@Home will switch on and start working in the background.
Over at our forum, a few members decided to start our own Folding@Home team. Our team, named the The DVF Grim Rippers, only has 44 members, but is already ranked the 614th highest contributors out of a total of 82012 team. As one forum member posted, "it's the little team that could". You too can join our team (you don't have to be a forum member), help donate your unused CPU cycles, and save the world.
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