This group of programmers is trying to use retired mining machines to help treat the new coronavirus

By Brendan Sullivan

Compiled by Huohuojiang | Cover image by Xu Weilong | CSDN downloaded from Visual China

Produced by | Blockchain Camp (blockchain_camp)

As markets crumble under COVID-19 fears, a small group of programmers is trying to find a cure for the coronavirus using crypto mining GPUs.

Early Internet users may remember the SETI@home method, which allowed users to set their computers to run a "screen saver" that would use the computer's idle computing power to process data for the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence project.

Recently, the Folding@home project has become a hot topic. The project is a crowdsourced simulation of protein folding, which is at the heart of a new field of treating and fighting virus-borne diseases. The Folding@home project involves research labs at more than a dozen universities, such as Notre Dame, the University of Virginia and Stockholm University, as well as Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

(Folding@home project: https://foldingathome.org/)

If you have idle GPUs for mining and want to put them to good use, you can run FoldingAtHome, they are currently doing COVID-19 drug research. Related link: https://t.co/SS4AMhWFif

— 74810b012346c9a6 (@orionwl)

Here's how it works: Virus research generates a lot of data. What data to model is critical, so it's worth spending time on it. The spread of the virus has caused a shortage of researchers in the lab, and the performance of the laptops usually used to work from home is not enough. Therefore, if a high-performance, networked GPU network can be organized immediately, it will be very helpful to solve this problem.

Proteins are molecular machines. They help us do all sorts of things—from smelling fresh-baked cookies to breaking them down after we eat them. Viral proteins make it possible for viruses to infect our cells and suppress our immune system, making us sick.

— Folding@home (@foldingathome)

"Viruses are made of linear chains of chemicals called amino acids that, in many cases, spontaneously 'fold' into compact, functional structures," wrote Greg Bowman, assistant professor at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and leader of the Folding@home project. "Like any machine, it's the arrangement and movement of its components that determine how a protein functions. In this case, it's the atoms that make it up."

He added that one purpose of the viral proteins is to "suppress our immune system and replicate itself."

Could Crypto Miners Help Cure Coronavirus?

The author believes that the idea of ​​developing a vaccine for COVID-19 is like the movie "Contagion", but in fact it may be more like "Ready Player One". A group of people pool their resources to find the places where they shouldn't look and the most important places.

To help tackle the coronavirus, we want to understand how these viral proteins work and what treatments we can design to help patients.

According to Folding@home’s GitHub page, “This repository will contain all input files and generated datasets to better understand how SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is targeted by small molecule and antibody therapeutics.”

(Folding@home's GitHub page: https://github.com/FoldingAtHome)

We use computer simulations to observe the activity of proteins.

To use a football analogy, an experiment might show us players lining up for a photo, while a simulation would let us roll the tape and watch the rest of the game.

— Folding@home (@foldingathome)

"This repository will be continually updated to share results generated on Folding@home," the post said.

The project process is still in its early stages. First, it prepared the input files for simulation on Folding@home. The project is currently in the second phase, where the actual simulation is being performed. In the next phase, this data will be analyzed using Folding@home.

Gamify ET Search

This follows the model of the SETI@home project from 1999, which in some ways foreshadowed the future of blockchain. Users earn “points” by completing work on their computers, which are posted on a leaderboard. The aim is to analyse signals collected by SETI – remember the Jodie Foster film Contact?

Participants competed to search for data that might contain evidence of intelligent life. But as users became more competitive, they began to cheat or post false information. To address this, the software was rerouted to distribute the data to multiple users at once. Only users who agreed with the result would be "rewarded."

This led to some users leaving their home computers running when they left home during the workday, and running another node on their work computers a few hours later (often without permission), as was noted in a BBC article in January 2002, titled "When Screensavers Are A Crime".

(Article link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1782050.stm)

That's what happened to computer engineer David McOwen, who installed a program on his computer at DeKalb Technical College in Atlanta, Georgia, without first asking for permission.

He installed a distributed computing program on the college's PCs, similar to the Seti@home screensaver, so that idle computing power could help crack the code. Because of his actions, he was charged with computer theft and illegal computer intrusion.

As countries race to find a cure for COVID-19, I think people like David could make their lives a little easier if they put their computing power to good use.

In a recent study in Greg Bowman's lab, Matthew A Cruz and his friends used F@H simulations to look for a pocket in the Ebola virus protein. The experiment confirmed that the pocket does exist, and they are now looking for drugs that can bind to the pocket.

— Folding@home (@foldingathome)

The response has been so enthusiastic that Folding@home is working overtime to create more simulations for COVID-19 research. But more people need to get involved.

The Folding@Home team is optimistic that they can and will have an impact in the fight against the coronavirus.

If scaled up, the technology could be useful in fighting other viruses, and the project has already had some success isolating specific pockets of the Ebola virus.

Original article: https://modernconsensus.com/technology/can-cryptominers-cure-coronavirus/