Folding@Home

In the DigitalMediaWire yesterday was a report about "Folding@Home"--

More than 42,000 PlayStation 3 owners have signed up so far for Folding@Home, a distributed computing project from Stanford University that will use the consoles' Cell processors to crunch research data on diseases like Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and cancer.

This community program processing was famously done once before, with SETI at the University of California:

SETI@home is a scientific experiment that uses Internet-connected computers in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). You can participate by running a free program that downloads and analyzes radio telescope data.

So now not only are microprocessor-based systems like SimplyHome going into residences to help folks live independently, but excess computing power in aggregate from other microprocessors-- namely game consoles-- are being harnessed to help solve the very health problems that cause folks to LOSE the ability to live independently.