Folding@Home

Description

"One such project, Folding@Home, set out to use large-scale distributed computing to create a simulation involving the folding of proteins. Proteins, which are described as nature's nanobots, assemble themselves in a process known as folding. When proteins fail to fold correctly, the side effects include diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

The Folding@Home team described their protein simulation in the form of a computational model suitable for distribution. The result is now a tool that allows them to simulate folding using timescales that are thousands to millions of times longer than were previously possible." (http://www.smartmobs.com/archive/2006/04/01/tapping_the_mat.html)