Distributed computing continues to be an exciting way to gain knowledge and crack problems needing a large amount or computing power. What is it? Distributed computing is the process of combining the power of several computers to collaboratively run a single task so that they appear as a single, centralized system. These projects will often run in the background, taking advantage of moments when your computer is idle (like when you go on your luch break!)

Following in the footsteps of SETI@home, Einstein@home and Google Compute, the first climate prediction experiment relying on the disseminated power of 90,000 personal computers has predicted global warming may ramp up average temperatures by 20 degrees Fahrenheit in less than 50 years. The results were first published in Nature.

According to Stephen Leahy in Wired, “the PCs, located in 150 countries, allowed British scientists to run more than 50,000 simulations of the future global climate, many more than the ‘best ever’ 128 simulations using supercomputers, said Myles Allen, chief scientist of climateprediction.net.

Thanks, Wired. Very cool. What’s next for distributed computing?