There are many ways that caring individuals can contribute to humanity, but few require as little time and effort as World Community Grid. It is a truly breakthrough project that can change the lives of hundreds of millions of people around the globe.

World Community Grid is a huge and growing network of over one million individual computers. Working together, they are providing scientists with tremendous computational power — equivalent in size to the world's third largest supercomputer — to accelerate their research on some of the world's most critical problems, including human disease, world hunger and climate change.

Here's how you can help make a difference and join World Community Grid: Individuals download a simple and secure program. This program detects when your computer is idle*, e.g., when you're out for lunch or in a meeting. During these times, your computer requests research work from World Community Grid's server. It then performs computations on this data and sends the results back. You don't have to do anything at all, and it's completely safe.

Because the work is split into small pieces that are analyzed simultaneously, research time is being slashed from years, to months and even days.

For example, a project that helped scientists learn more about cancer was completed in just months on World Community Grid. Using conventional computing resources, it would have taken approximately 100,000 years to complete the research.

Please explore the topics below to find out more about World Community Grid, and how easy it is to make a difference:

World Community Grid's Achievements to Date

Your Security and Privacy

It's Easy To Volunteer

 

World Community Grid's Achievements to Date

 

In just a few short years, World Community Grid has brought us much closer to finding cures for cancer, HIV/AIDS and many life-threatening diseases. It also is providing information that can help alleviate world hunger and find answers to global environmental challenges. Here are some of our latest achievements:

1. Through the 'Help Defeat Cancer' project , World Community Grid helped accelerate research that enables scientists to diagnose and analyse cancer tumors with much greater accuracy. This research was completed in 2 years; using conventional methods, the project would have taken 162 years.

 

2. The AfricanClimate@Home project used World Community Grid to improve regional climate models in order to make better projections about what effects a changing climate will have in Africa. With this knowledge, policy makers can make better decisions on agriculture and water resources that might alleviate the adverse effects or better prepare for oncoming extreme events like droughts or floods.

 

3. Scientists have now mapped 90% of the Human Proteome, thanks to World Community Grid. This knowledge will help in the development of new and more effective drugs and treatments for a range of human diseases.

 

4. Researchers for the FightAIDS@Home project have completed 5 years of research in just 6 months. They are now working with chemists to design advanced drugs to treat the devastating disease.

 

Please join World Community Grid today. Just go to the registration page and start making a difference.

 

Your Security and Privacy

 

All of the work accomplished by World Community Grid is completely dependent upon the safe participation of our members. Without you, we would not exist. That's why we make every effort to keep both the software and our server systems secure.

Our security measures include: virus scanning all of our build environments, digitally signing information, advanced encryption of files, and biometric access control to World Community Grid servers. IBM, which sponsors and hosts World Community Grid, also conducts thorough security reviews, including engaging 'Ethical Hackers' to ensure that the entire system is secure.

 

Here are some more important facts:

1. World Community Grid's software has been safely downloaded onto over one million computers, which have completed 197,276 years of scientific research.

2. The software, called BOINC, was developed by the University of California, Berkeley. It is also used by other organizations to advance research in many areas of science such as SETI (the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence).

3. The software will not damage your systems or invade your privacy in any way. It runs unobtrusively in your computer's background and is not invasive.

4. The software does not scan or change any other files or material on your machine.

5. Your e-mail is recorded only in case you forget your password and need to retrieve it.

6. No personally identifiable information is required to run World Community Grid's software.

7. Your information is never shared with any company or organization outside World Community Grid.

8. World Community Grid will never send you unsolicited emails.

Please join World Community Grid today. Just go to the registration page and start making a difference.

It's Easy To Volunteer

Installation of World Community Grid's software is easy and straightforward, taking less than 3 minutes of your time.
Once you have downloaded the software, you will see a small icon on your desktop and a screensaver. That's it: your computer is now part of World Community Grid!

The software is open-platform, which means that it can work on any computer system: Mac, PC or Linux.

 

Here are some more important facts:

1. World Community Grid will not slow down the speed of your computer

You should see little or no difference in the speed of your computer. World Community Grid is designed not to interrupt any other work that is being done. You can even set the software to run like a screen saver and only start working when your computer is completely idle.

2. You can choose the specific projects you would like to support.

Your PC's idle time can be focused on one project you care about, or it can go toward all of the research running on World Community Grid. You decide what is important to you.

3. You will receive updates with details on your contribution.

You will get regular updates on your statistics, documenting exactly how much computer time you have donated, and how many computations or work tasks you've completed and returned to World Community Grid.

4. You can join teams and meet other volunteers with similar interests.

World Community Grid enables you to create or join teams and participate in robust forums where you can ask questions or learn more information on scientific research.

5. World Community Grid software has no function other than to further scientific research.

World Community Grid software is dedicated to processing data sent from scientific research projects. It will not scan your files or interact with your computer in any other way, so you can be assured of its legitimacy as a research tool.

Please join World Community Grid today. Just go to the registration page and start making a difference.