Find aliens with distributed computing

Distributed computing is a means of running a single piece of software on more than one computer at the same time.

Once the program is installed, it only becomes active when the system is not in use, at which time it will request data from a central server and begin processing it. When you return to your computer, the software will become inactive again.

The main benefit of distributed computing is the ability to pool the processing power of multiple computers to perform complex tasks efficiently. In doing so it creates a virtual super-computer from hundreds of separate machines.

In 1999, the Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory set up SETI@home to search the skies for signs of extraterrestrial life. Previous SETI (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) projects used special-purpose super-computers located at a telescope to do the bulk of the data analysis, but the SETI@home screensaver became the first distributed-computing system.

By employing the enormous processing power of thousands of internet-connected computers around the world, it became possible to search through large frequency ranges of radio telescope data at a higher sensitivity than ever before. So far no aliens have been found, but more than 5.2 million PCs are now searching.