How has increased computer processing speed and the Internet contributed to recent medical breakthroughs?
June 28, 2009 · Filed Under Diabetes
kathy_is_a_nurse asked:
Hi…I’m helping an author write a book. He needs some specific examples of recent medical breakthroughs (say in the last 10 years or so), new drugs, or innovations made possible by the increased processing speed of computers and/or the ability to communicate quickly over long distances via technologies such as the Internet. Suggestions can be in any aspect of medicine, but we are especially interested in cancer, heart disease, diabetes, or obesity.
Hi…I’m helping an author write a book. He needs some specific examples of recent medical breakthroughs (say in the last 10 years or so), new drugs, or innovations made possible by the increased processing speed of computers and/or the ability to communicate quickly over long distances via technologies such as the Internet. Suggestions can be in any aspect of medicine, but we are especially interested in cancer, heart disease, diabetes, or obesity.
The more specific details or links you can provide the better, since we will have to source our references in the book.
Thanks to everyone who contributes.
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2 Responses to “How has increased computer processing speed and the Internet contributed to recent medical breakthroughs?”
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Well, the Folding @ home project was a major breakthrough with computers using distributed computing.
What it did was had tons of people around the world download and install a program that ran while they were not using their computer. These programs processed small bits of information to help the main computers process Protein folding.
(BOINC) Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing uses increased computer capacity over the years to assist in may breakthroughs including mapping the human genome. They take data that would normally take thousands of years to process and distribute it accross peoples computers on the internet and borrow their processors while they are not in use and get a more massive computer by the adding of all the smaller computers and are able to crunch the data in a very small time.
Examples:
Astronomy/Physics/Chemistry
Leiden Classical
Quantum Monte Carlo at Home
Biology and Medicine
SIMAP
World Community Grid
Malariacontrol.net
Tanpaku
Earth Sciences
Climateprediction.net
Mathematics and strategy games
SZTAKI Desktop Grid
Rectilinear Crossing Number
Riesel Sieve
PrimeGrid