Volunteers

Researcher David Baker believes the key to an AIDS vaccine or a cure for cancer may be that old PC sitting in your closet or the one idling on your desk. Baker, 43, a professor of biochemistry at the University of Washington, realized that he didn't have access to the computing horsepower needed for his research — nor the money to buy time on supercomputers elsewhere. So he turned to the kindness — and the computers — of strangers. Using software made popular in a massive search for intelligent life beyond Earth, Baker's Rosetta@home project taps the computing power of tens of thousands of PCs whose owners are donating spare computer time to chop away at scientific problems over the internet. "We're getting these volunteer virtual communities popping up that are doing wonderful things," Baker said. "People like to get together for good causes."

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