Folding@Home Beta arrives for Sony smartphones, help cure Alzheimer’s while you sleep

Sony has a long standing partnership with the Folding@Home research project and has just released a Beta version of Folding@Home for smartphones, following successful trials back in 2012.

For those who haven’t come across Folding@Home before, it’s essentially a scientific simulation program that makes use of the combined processing capabilities of computers, and now smartphones, from all over the world to cost effectively crowd-source research data that would otherwise only be obtainable through the use of hugely expensive supercomputers. Each peer chips in a small amount of processing power, but it adds up when you combine the entire user base together.

The Folding@Home project is designed and used for disease research. By simulating protein folding and drug design, researches can obtain a better look at difficult to observe molecules, which could help find cures for cancer, Alzeimer’s and Huntington’s disease, among others.

The increase in computing capacity is having a real effect on what we can achieve … The potential of smartphones in this space is enormous and we’re really pleased that Sony has been able to support us with this. – Dr Vijay Pande

The beta version of the Folding@Home app is compatible with all smartphones in the Xperia Z series, as well as the Xperia T3, T2 Ultra, M2 Aqua and C3, and can is available for download from Google Play. Once the beta stage comes to a close, the app will be available for all Android 4.4 smartphones sometime early this year.