Looking for a way help climatologists studying the effects of global warming on the global environment? So are we, but climatologists have long been saying that the kind of processing power they’d need to run simulations and experiments isn’t available even in the toughest of supercomputers.
Then a group of british climatologists got an idea; using the same distributed computing technologies that allowed SETI@Home to use spare processor cycles of interested computer users around the world to help them in their experiments, they could do global climate simulations using people’s home computers when they’re not using them by developing a screensaver.
The BBC got involved, and they’re distributing the screensaver to the public; download it, give it a try, and know that you’re helping researchers make inroads to the research that very well may determine the future of our planet. Technology doesn’t get any more useful than that.