From the don't-waste-all-those-cycles-dept.

Sony: Consoles can aid medical research

TOKYO - The new PlayStation 3 isn't all about entertainment. That's the message Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news). is trying to convey in announcing that the new game consoles -- as powerful as supercomputers -- can help Stanford University researchers analyze complex human protein structures and perhaps find cures for cancer, Alzheimer's and other ailments.

Sony Computer Entertainment says that when Cure(at)PLAYSTATION 3 is launched, PS3 owners can register their machines with Stanford, download specially designed software and leave their machines online to process data when they're not playing.

It's modeled after programs where personal computers process high-volume data for signs of extraterrestrial life and other tasks. PCs already contribute to the Stanford medical research program.

Sony said data processing time can be up to 20 times faster with a global network of PS3s, which are fitted with advanced Cell processors that can perform billions of calculations per second.

While I was waiting in line to buy Wizbang's PS3, I was speaking to a plumber who had no idea why the PS3 was so impressive from a computing point of view. I explained the cell processor and at the time I predicted it would be a PS3 (or something like it) that cracked the code to curing cancer and make other similar discoveries in science.

Distributed computing is coming of age and the power it unleashes is nearly unfathomable.

More info from Stanford