Its hard to argue that climate change isnt the number one issue of our times. Its not just a generational problem that needs solving, its an existential one. Its the all-encompassing antagonist that makes every other problem worse, and everyone except the US government, at least knows it. <\/p>\n
IBM has also acknowledged the extent of the problem, and has strongly thrown its support behind the Paris Agreement. Now, speaking to IFLScience, the company has revealed that its going to do its part in solving the crisis by unleashing its secret weapon: a crowdsourced supercomputer. <\/p>\n
Since 2004, IBM has run the World Community Grid (WCG), an international network of personal computers that, when linked up, contribute their processing power and cloud storage space. This giant web acts as a supercomputer one of the most powerful computational systems on Earth. <\/p>\n
We can have an ordinary, solitary supercomputer dedicated to working on these efforts, but eventually even a supercomputer would run out of capacity, Juan Hindo, manager of the WCG, told IFLScience. <\/p>\n
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WCG volunteers download an app to their computers and devices. When theyre not being used, the devices automatically perform virtual experiments driven and directed by a team of researchers all around the world. <\/p>\n
This model is infinitely scalable, and also taps into a resource that would otherwise be going to waste. Researchers are given access to a massive amount of computing power for free, along with a community of volunteers who are excited and engaged in learning about the work. <\/p>\n
That element of public engagement, and bringing in the public into your research, and raising awareness of your work is something you would not get by doing your work on a normal supercomputer, Hindo said. <\/p>\n
It currently has over 730,000 volunteers and millions upon millions of devices working on problems as diverse as Zika, childhood cancer, clean energy, and water filtration technologies. <\/p>\n
Environmental science projects have emerged in the last few years, but this push on climate change is the most ambitious venture yet. The WCG will be made available to five innovative climate change research projects, all to the tune of $200 million. <\/p>\n
Were casting the net wide, Sophia Tu, Director of Corporate Citizenship at IBM, explains. Were looking for work to get us to solutions, to show us how to adapt to climate change, how to mitigate it. <\/p>\n
Migration patterns, the spread of disease, changing drought patterns, crop resilience were open to anything on this. We know that climate change is an interdisciplinary field, so we dont want to rule anything out. <\/p>\n
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Link:<\/p>\n
IBM Wants You To Use Its "Crowdsourced Supercomputer" To Help Fight Climate Change - IFLScience<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Its hard to argue that climate change isnt the number one issue of our times. Its not just a generational problem that needs solving, its an existential one. Continue reading