Sony's PlayStation 3 is about 20 times more powerful at calculating the folding of human proteins than an average PC. That's what you'll hear if you watch the cool video about how the PS3 is contributing to Stanford University's Folding@Home project.

In other words, the PS3 (with its amazing processing power) is a powerful data-crunching tool for scientists looking to cure cancer and other diseases.

And you can watch and see for yourself how the PS3 is calculating and simulating the actions of reactions of the very molecules that give us life or cause our diseases! This screenshot, taken from the Folding@Home site launched by Sony Computer Entertainment Japan (SCEI), shows the PS3 studying a molecule:

 

SCEI's Folding@Home website has this to say:

The goal of this project is to research protein folding and misfolding to gain an understanding of how these are related to disease. Targeted diseases include (but are not limited to) Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and many forms of cancer.

Here's a quick overview of why the PS3 is a valuable addition to Folding@Home. A previous QJ.NET article has more interesting facts and screenshots of the Folding@Home process on the PS3.

• The PS3 system's Cell Broadband Engine (Cell/B.E.) processor will dramatically add to the computing performance of the Folding@home project.
• Folding@home for PS3 utilizes the RSX graphics processor to provide a real-time simulation of the folding behavior of proteins.
• The locations of PS3 systems that are running Folding@home are displayed on the world map that is visible in the background.

Folding@Home is an optional feature of an upcoming firmware update for the PS3 (Gamasutra reported that it's in FW 1.6).

If you want to help Folding@Home even more, you can also connect your PC to Folding@Home. A recent article about SETI@home had a shameless plug about "Team QJ.NET" (Jammie, modcase, etc.) and their Folding@Home effort.