Nutritious Rice for the World harvests unused computing power

Many U.S. consumers are troubled by steep food prices. But, around the globe, there’s a food shortage and it isn't a matter of dollars and cents, but of life and death. Microbiologists at the University of Washington hope to change that, and their research is possible through IBM computing technologies. Already, the World Community Grid has supported important research into cancer, AIDS and climate change.

The project targets rice – the staple of choice for more than half of the world's population – and hopes to increase crop yields by studying the grain at the DNA level. But the complex data involved is too much for a single computer. That's why they turned to IBM and the World Community Grid. A network of computers that would otherwise be idling in schools, offices and homes, the grid harnesses the power of thousands of computers to create a virtual super-processor that can cut research time from years into weeks. Any individual can register their computer and donate its unused processing power to the grid; even select the projects you wish to support.

Source: Good FOUR Business, published by Good for Business.