How has increased computer processing speed and the Internet contributed to recent medical breakthroughs?

Question

Hi...I'm helping an author write a book. He needs some specific examples of recent medical breakthroughs (say in the last 10 years or so), new drugs, or innovations made possible by the increased processing speed of computers and/or the ability to communicate quickly over long distances via technologies such as the Internet. Suggestions can be in any aspect of medicine, but we are especially interested in cancer, heart disease, diabetes, or obesity.

The more specific details or links you can provide the better, since we will have to source our references in the book.

Thanks to everyone who contributes.

Answer 1

Well, the Folding @ home project was a major breakthrough with computers using distributed computing.

What it did was had tons of people around the world download and install a program that ran while they were not using their computer. These programs processed small bits of information to help the main computers process Protein folding.

http://folding.stanford.edu/

Answer 2

(BOINC) Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing uses increased computer capacity over the years to assist in may breakthroughs including mapping the human genome. They take data that would normally take thousands of years to process and distribute it accross peoples computers on the internet and borrow their processors while they are not in use and get a more massive computer by the adding of all the smaller computers and are able to crunch the data in a very small time.

Examples:

Astronomy/Physics/Chemistry

uFluids@home http://www.ufluids.net/
Spinhenge@home http://spin.fh-bielefeld.de/
SETI@home http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/
Leiden Classical http://boinc.gorlaeus.net/
Einstein@home http://einstein.phys.uwm.edu/
LHC@home http://lhcathome.cern.ch/lhcathome/
Quantum Monte Carlo at Home http://qah.uni-muenster.de/

Biology and Medicine

SIMAP http://boinc.bio.wzw.tum.de/boincsimap/
Predictor@home http://predictor.scripps.edu/
World Community Grid http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/
Malariacontrol.net http://www.malariacontrol.net
Rosetta@home http://boinc.bakerlab.org/rosetta/
Tanpaku http://issofty17.is.noda.tus.ac.jp/

Earth Sciences

Climateprediction.net http://climateprediction.net

Mathematics and strategy games

SZTAKI Desktop Grid http://szdg.lpds.sztaki.hu/szdg/
Rectilinear Crossing Number http://dist.ist.tugraz.at/cape5/
Riesel Sieve http://boinc.rieselsieve.com/
ABC@home http://abcathome.com/
Chess960@home http://www.chess960athome.org/alpha/
PrimeGrid http://www.primegrid.com

Answer 3

No you won't be in a position to bypass untangle information superhighway clear out except you perform a little actual hacking. you ought to connect your pc to the cord formerly it enters the server that has the untangle information superhighway clear out. that could supply you precedence speed.

Answer 4

If you don't understand a question, DON'T ANSWER IT! How hard is that to do?