Many important scientific problems such as protein folding are computationally intense. The more computers scientists have working on these problems, the faster they will be able to develop solutions. For example, understanding the structure of proteins will enable scientists to make progress in the areas of molecular biology and drug design.

What exactly are you going to do with my unused computer time?

If you enable Google Compute on your Google Toolbar your unused computing time will at the moment be contributed to the nonprofit Folding@home project at Stanford University. The goal of Folding@home is to model the fundamental processes of life itself - the geometric structure of proteins. You can learn more at http://folding.stanford.edu/.

In the future Google may work with other research teams on similarly complex problems, or use the network to help improve Google and its services. The third party projects we choose to help out will be carefully selected non-profit projects, with the guiding principle being to help humanity and advance scientific knowledge. Users will be clearly notified of any such projects when they are introduced, and will maintain at all times the ability to disable or uninstall Google Compute for any reason.

I already get enough protein in my diet... why should I care?

Proteins, in addition to being an important dietary component, are also fundamental to almost all processes in cells. Understanding and modeling how proteins fold into specific shapes could lead to the development of cures for Alzheimer's, cancer, AIDS and other diseases. By pooling together a large number of processors, scientists can understand the shapes of new proteins faster.

Protein folding simulations are interesting, but what about other important problems?

In the future Google Compute will tackle other similarly important applications. When new projects are added, they will appear in the Google Compute menu.

Google Compute - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)