Q. What's this folding?
A. There's an official answer on the main webpage
http://folding.stanford.edu/ In short, protiens are large enough molecules that the atoms can move in relationship to each other, like crumpling up a sheet of paper. Aparently this is significant.
Q. Do I need to be connected to the internet all the time to be any help?
A. No. The only time it needs a connection is when it sends an old WU and gets a new one. If you're using the graphical client, you can set it to let you know when it's done, so you can make the connection. Or you can just let it wait until you're online. Most of the work is done without using the Internet.
Q. Is this something to help find a cure for a disease?
A. No guarantees, but that's the idea.
Q. Will I be any help on a 56k modem and a crap old computer?
A. Yes! My older boxes churn out a pretty fair number of WUs. And every little bit helps.
Q. Will one day this thing suddenly be figured out and it all stop?
A. The project is trying to understand how protiens work. That understanding can lead to breakthroughs in disease prevention, so they could stop if they think they've accomplished enough. On the other hand, there is
always something new to learn.
Q. Right I've installed it and put my name in and the team number. When I search for 'q_bot_w11' or look on the teams page I can't find me. Does this mean that Im not contributing?
A. Give it time. It can take a day or two for the longest WUs to finish, and you don't appear until you have done your first one. It's worth the wait!
Q. What's a WU?
A. WU == work unit. The calculations get broken down into convenient units, just like soda gets put into cans for your convenience. It makes it easier to move the data around.
You are false data.
