What can you do except crouch in the office and at home, wash your hands and follow the news? Well, if you (quasi) want to do something about the corona virus, you can follow the call from Stanford University scientists. Because these are currently asking supporters around the world to provide them with computing capacity for research on therapies against the novel corona virus.
And this is how it works: Willing users can let their computers participate in “folding @ home” (FAH) using a small program. Using so-called “distributed computing”, your own computer can then participate in the research of the docking process of the virus on the human body. The complicated thing is that the spike protein with which the virus attaches to lung cells constantly undergoes protein folding and thus takes on new forms all the time.
For Mac, Windows & Linux
The folding @ home software, which is installed on your own computer, is intended to make unused CPU and GPU computing capacities accessible for research. As a user, you can determine whether the computer is only used when you are not using it yourself, or whether you can calculate on the side. The free program is available for Linux, Windows and MacOS.
Overall, the Stanford scientists hope to gain knowledge for an antidote. The software for distributed computing (you can see it) has been around for many years – and has been used to help develop therapies for diseases caused by protein folding. In this respect, the current use around COVId-19 fits very well.
Austrians support with competition
A young Austrian developer who works for the blockchain project Tezos is supporting folding @ home with a small competition. Johann Tanzer wants to encourage people to provide computing power. For this he has put together a price of 340 XTZ (the equivalent of about $ 1,000). This should get the one who provides the most computing power for Stanford by March 30th.
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