The technology uses resources from thousands of computers around the world to work through large sets of numbers and complicated problems. The app has become so powerful that its processing power outperformed the 500 fastest supercomputers in the world combined.
Different universities and institutions working on COVID-19 projects are using this massive computing brain. The app's processing power is being used to understand how the coronavirus spike enters the human cell. Many studies are working to detect the spike of the SARS-CoV-2 virus attaches itself to human cells, infects the body, and takes hold of it.
Fold@Home is playing a big role in helping researchers to develop future treatments through simulations of how spikes proteins work. One home computer might succeed in developing a part of the process. But it will finish the task within the next 100 years.
Since the outbreak of coronavirus 7,00,000 new users have joined Folding@Home. The app has seen an increase of over 30,000 people simultaneously running the app which led to a massive increase in computing power. It has now reached 2.4 exaFLOPs of processing power.
The world's fastest supercomputer is called Summit and it belongs to the US Department Of Energy. Summit can reach a peak performance of 187 petaFLOPs which is equal to under 19% of an exaFLOP.
Folding@Home spreads longer calculations around the world in smaller chunks. The app splits up complex protein models into tiny tasks that are distributed to thousands of computers around the world.
The app allows PC owners to decide what percentage of their computer's processing power can be used. Many people have installed the app purely to help in the COVID-19 area. The software is now updated so people cab prioritize COVID-19 projects.
Read All Updates About Coronavirus
Add your comment Hide comment