Folding PS3s Could Cure Disease

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Sony Computer Entertainment and Stanford University today announced that the PlayStation 3 version of Stanford's Folding@home program will be available as a free download for PS3 owners by the end of the March. The project, also available as a free download for personal computers, began in 2000 as a method of distributing the workload of processor-intensive simulations for faster and more efficient calculations. UC Berkeley's SETI@home, released to the public in 1999, operates on a similar principle.

"In order to study protein folding, researchers need more than just one super computer, but the massive processing power of thousands of networked computers," explained Masayuki Chatani, corporate execute and chief technology officer at Sony. "Previously PCs have been the only option for scientists, but now they have a new, more powerful tool--PS3."

The folding of proteins allows them to change their shape to perform the very basics of biological functionality, so any defect can have devastating implications. By understanding how proteins work, scientists can better interpret what happens when they do not, a process believed to cause diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Mad Cow, cystic fibrosis and numerous cancers. This understanding also brings with it the potential of a cure, such as man-made polymers that could exhibit properties similar to a properly functioning protein.

"With PS3 now part of our network, we will be able to address questions previously considered impossible to tackle computationally, with the goal of finding cures to some of the world's most life-threatening diseases," noted Folding@home project lead Vijay Pande.

The PS3 version of Folding@home can be run manually or set to execute while the system is idle. The program also displays its progress on-screen, of which Sony has released a few screenshots.

Chris Faylor was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

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  • reply
    March 15, 2007 1:22 PM

    All snide remarks aside, this is a really cool use for a machine that doesn't really have that many games yet.
    Suprising 360 team didn't think of it

    • reply
      March 15, 2007 1:42 PM

      I think its a great idea, and I would probably run it 24/7(except while game playing, of course), if I had a ps3.

      • reply
        March 15, 2007 1:53 PM

        I wouldn't trust any of the next gen consoles to run 24/7.

        • reply
          March 15, 2007 4:16 PM

          Put the Wii out of your equation.

    • reply
      March 15, 2007 1:45 PM

      It's not so much that the 360 team hasn't thought of it, as the PS3 is the perfect example of a machine designed to solve exactly these kinds of massively parallel problems.

      • reply
        March 15, 2007 2:30 PM

        I'm not sure the fact that it has an extra 2 cores make it that much more so over the 360.

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          March 15, 2007 2:32 PM

          PS3 has seven usable cores, six if you don't count the one reserved for the US. Also, the Cell processor is architected differently than the 360's CPU.

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            March 15, 2007 2:33 PM

            reserved for the OS, sorry

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            March 15, 2007 3:12 PM

            Is it 8 with one turned off? I was thinking 6 with one turned off (therefore only 2 more cores then the 360)... and yes, I am well aware of the architectural differences.

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              March 15, 2007 3:18 PM

              From Wikipedia:
              "six accessible 3.2 GHz Synergistic Processing Elements (SPEs). A seventh runs in a special mode and is dedicated to aspects of the OS and security, and an eighth is disabled to improve production yields"

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                March 15, 2007 5:50 PM

                so, basically what I just said. great.

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                  March 15, 2007 6:20 PM

                  Uh, no. It has eight cores. One is disabled. One is for the OS. That leaves six.

                  What you said is that it has six cores, with one disabled, leaving five.

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      March 15, 2007 2:18 PM

      I wonder if they have some sort of exclusivity deal with Sony (for consoles only of course..)

      • reply
        March 15, 2007 2:41 PM

        Unlikely. Things like this don't mesh with Microsoft's strategy of focusing only on games. Hence, no web browser, so-so DVD playback, so-so HD format support, etc.

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          March 15, 2007 2:46 PM

          I don't think Microsoft is too stringent about that strategy. They recently launched Video Marketplace after all. I think it's more like that strategy is a good sounding PR label that they can trot out when they happen to be doing a lot of game-related stuff. Like any other company, they'll do what they think makes sense for their business model.

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      March 15, 2007 8:34 PM

      Well one reason they aren't jumping on it is because its a completely different architecture than x86. Asymmetric CPUs are probably the future, but Sony may have brought it before its time.

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        March 17, 2007 1:07 AM

        Truthfully I think the only way they would become the future is for someone to bring them out before their time, in order to mass market them and drive down their costs. Had sony not done it someone else would have.

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