In these times of pandemics Vodafone launched DreamLab, a very clever little app that helps to beat diseases. Together with major medical research institutes like the Imperial College London (Covid 19, cancer, genetics and foods), the AIRC (cancer) and the Garvan Institute (genetics) complex projects were defined that need an immense power of computing.

This app -called DreamLab because it functions only when your phone is hooked on the charger- uses the calculating abilities of your smartphone when you are sleeping. Of course the resources of your smartphone alone are just a fraction of what is needed to reach the goal of a project. But because of the total number of people that have installed the app, the combined computer power beats that of the most expensive supercomputers that are available.

This opens a whole new window of opportunities and I think we are only beginning to get the slightest idea of the potential.

To name one, the Corona AI project of the Imperial College London is searching for new combinations and adaptions of existing medicins and foods. To get a solid answer this project requires 100.922.068 calculations and that would take a supercomputer several years to finish. There are not many supercomputers in the world and the entire capacity of these is fully used already, so any new projects have to wait their turn. By using DreamLab instead, already 284.904 people participated in the project and the first 100 million calcutions are almost done. In about 5 months.

The app can be downloaded for free in the Google Play Store and in Apple’s App Store. Please consider downloading the app and helping to crush the data of these fantastic projects.

Together, we are able to find cures and solutions to a lot of miserable diseases.

In our sleep…

Categorie: Science in practice

Geschreven door Jop Timmers

Jop is de oprichter van Design for Good, een ervaren product ontwerper, innovatie manager, auteur, expert in duurzaamheid, getraind als C2C Design Consultant in 2009 en negen jaar lang tevens part time docent industrieel ontwerpen. Duurzame en sociale innovatie zijn z'n passie.