Folding

Hi there, what exactly is folding? I know its to do with medical research etc, but what exactly do you have to do etc.

There is an excelent answer by one folding team:
hxxp://icrontic.com/files/thraxfoldingflash/
...
There was a way better one, but now the link is gone:
hxxp://www.teamshort-media.com/videos/foldflash2.html

It's folding proteins, which basically is finding the composition of proteins and how they are well shaped and such, in other words how to make them.

Check out the official F@H site if you have any questions. Stanfords Folding @ Home

Like BBall said, it is about folding protiens, scientific research that also assists research into diseases and will hopefully contribute to finding ways to address some of them.

In answer to you second question, you need to have a reasonable PC with an OK CPU or GPU with an internet connection that you load the folding software on and it fold while you are not using it. You can also fold on a PS3. You can fold on Intel or PPC macs as well (Intel ones are better for folding on). The better the machine the more you can 'fold' the more points you get (points are a token reward for your folding efforts) - not worth anything other than to show your team and personal contribution.

If you fold you can join a team - we are devfolding and have members from all of the dev forums folding. Our team number is 12912 (you enter that when you setup your folding software.

For me, folding is like buying lottery tickets where the prize is the cure for a disease I don't have (yet). I don't really expect to win anything myself, but someone will.

Ben N1NP