Follow up:

Many people have heard of SETI; the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence project. How people can donate their computer's CPU time to run scientific tests that analyze audio data from space. It turns out that Grid Computing, a way for scientists to send your computer World Units may be a good way to benefit everyone. The idea is debatable but more and more projects are starting. One project is aimed to help solve cancer, another tries to figure out how protiens "fold", another to figure out mathematical anomalies, another to find new drugs for diseases, and so on.

Grid computing largly started with SETI. Today people dontate their computer time to projects they deem beneficial to humanity. This is all done through a computer program (client) called BOINC.

"The Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC) is a non-commercial middleware system for volunteer and grid computing. It was originally developed to support the SETI@home project before it became useful as a platform for other distributed applications in areas as diverse as mathematics, medicine, molecular biology, climatology, and astrophysics. The intent of BOINC is to make it possible for researchers to tap into the enormous processing power of personal computers around the world." (Wikipedia)

Boinc can be found here http://boinc.berkeley.edu/. There are many projects that people can participate in if they wish. I personally participate in World Community Grid sponsored by IBM. http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/

Many Universities and non-profit organizations are joining in on the cause. World Community Grid is also non-profit. You can easily visit the website and download the client. Grid computing is used a lot in the military, science, and business world to solve complex problems. The military uses it to predict combat outcomes before executed in real life as well as virtual tests of new weapons, all within the laws of physics. Science uses it for biology, physics, and mathematical research. Businesses use it to find patterns in consumer data.

It was first developed by IBM and is now used all over the place. Grid computing or distributive computing basically means connecting many computers together and having them work by splitting up the total work into work units. Much like a think tank of computers.

For a list of Grid Computing projects:
http://distributedcomputing.info/projects.html

For a list of Upcoming projects:
http://distributedcomputing.info/upcoming.html

If you are interested, you can begin by downloading the BOINC clienc computer program at http://boinc.berkeley.edu/.

After words the client will allow you to choose from projects that you may be interested in. Whatever you feel needs some research done in.

Grid Computing is a great idea and has worked in the past. World Community Grid has claimed that a computer program was responsible for finding potential vaccines for many diseases in the past. And many institutions continue to use it today, whether out of faith or the bit by bit results from an enormous project simplified by many hands at work.