Players of a new online game called Foldit will help design three-dimensional protein structures for HIV vaccines, and enzymes for repairing DNA in diseased tissues. David Baker, a leading protein scientist at the University of Washington, teamed up with computer scientists to create the game.
Earthquake researchers in California hope to take advantage of the motion sensors in laptops to create an earthquake-sensing network. By putting computers in homes and businesses to work as seismic monitors, the researchers hope to pull together a wealth of information on major quakes, and perhaps even offer early warnings, giving a few seconds' notice of a potentially devastating quake.
Researchers are developing systems to augment artificial intelligence by using humans for recognizing patterns or meanings in images, language or concepts.
The disappearance of renowned computer scientist Jim Gray has launched a high-tech search over the web using massive satellite imagery databases and distributed task processing by volunteers who are searching through these images to find his boat.
Africa@home is a new distributed computing project with the goal to "develop a long-term model of malaria epidemiology, which it can use to test different ways of combating the disease."
Nazi code that eluded the best cryptographers the Allied forces had to offer during World War II has been solved by an amateur codebreaker with the assistance of a network of computers.
The M4 Message Breaking Project is harnessing the power of distributed computing to crack a few remaining Enigma intercepts from WWII. The first intercept has already been broken and an interpretation posted.
Surveillance companies, using networks of cheap Web-connected cameras and powerful new video-analysis software, are demonstrating the kind of surveillance capabilities that were once only possible in a Hollywood movie. Faces and license plates can now be spotted, in almost real time, at ports, military bases and companies. Security perimeters can be changed or strengthened with a mouse click. Feeds from hundreds of cameras can be combined into a single desktop view. And videotape that used to take hours, even days, to scour is searched in minutes.
Changes brought about by the internet will be dwarfed by those prompted by the networking of everyday objects, says a report by a UN body. The study looks at how the use of electronic tags and sensors could create an "internet of things".
Feature article on the growing power and promise of collaborative software projects for business and science.