Last month, Stanford University invited owners of PS3s to join the Folding @ Home project, which uses distributed-computing technology to simulate the complicated process of protein folding. Sony officials are already hailing the PS3 project as a success. About 250,000 PS3 users now run Folding@Home when they’re not playing games, and that influx of new participants has more than doubled the endeavor’s overall processing power, according to PC Advisor. If Folding@Home continues to hum along on PS3s, it’s a safe bet that more distributed-computing projects will start appealing to video-game players.
Go to http://folding.stanford.edu/ to read more. Protein folding can help cure diseases! So it's a good cause.