Distributed computing tackles climate change
Oxford University and the BBC have launched a partnership so people can donate their computers' otherwise unused processing power to a simulation of global climate change.
In its first week since launching the Climateprediction.net project, 80,000 people have signed up to join, organizers said Tuesday.
Climate modeling is a popular topic among those researching global warming, glacial melting and energy policy. Typically, simulations rely on massive supercomputers, but the Climateprediction.net project is designed to harness lowly PCs connected over the Internet.
Distributed computing projects also are under way for an SETI@home's alien communication search, Stanford protein folding simulations, Smallpox research and prime number quests.
Stephen Shankland writes about a wide range of technology and products, but has a particular focus on browsers and digital photography. He joined CNET News in 1998 and since then also has covered Google, Yahoo, servers, supercomputing, Linux and open-source software, and science. E-mail Stephen, or follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/stshank. 
