Ibercivis |
Introduction
Ibercivis is a project run through the University of Zaragoza in Spain. It is the first Spanish BOINC project, and is designed to not only expand on scientific knowledge, but to bring science closer to the people of Spain. It provides an important tool to Spanish researchers, while allowing citizens of all ages to interact and learn with the researchers while they dedicate computer time.
Ibercivis most importantly a national initiative, so it is not focused on one individual field of science. However, Ibercivis sub projects are currently exploring new ideas in the areas of nuclear fusion, protein docking, materials testing, the chemical strucutre of memory, and light on the nano scale.
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Videos
Video on Ibercivis' work on protein docking.
Video on Ibercivis' fusion work.
http://www.youtube.com/user/Ibercivis
Science
Fusion Research
One of the areas Ibercivis does research in is the advancement of fusion power. Fusion power promises to be a clean, viable method of producing energy in the future, free from CO2 emissions and reliance on fossil fuels.
Nuclear fusion takes place when two small nuclei combine together to make a slightly larger nucleus (whereas nuclear fission, the process we get nuclear power from now, is when a very large nucleas is broken into two smaller ones). The resulting nucleus is slightly smaller than the two original nucleus put together, so the extra mass is released as energy. This energy release is the key to fusion power. This same reaction is what keeps our Sun burning.
Click here for more detailed information on Fusion Power and Nuclear Fusion.
Of course, Nuclear Fusion doesn't just happen here on Earth like it does on the Sun. Creating a fusion reaction requires a massive amount of heat and energy. The super-heated material that fusion takes place in is called plasma, and can be up to 100 million (100,000,000) degrees Celcius (or 180 million degrees Fahrenheit). These temperatures make plasma seven times hotter than the core of the Sun. Since research in plasma is fairly recent, many things about it are not understood
Ibercivis, therefore, is conducting research into plasma. Specifically, they are researching how the individual nuclei move about within the plasma. By understanding this motion, they can learn how to create and control fusion reactions more effectively, bringing us closer to a reality of fusion power.
Protein Docking
Nearly every single drug in modern medicine works on how small molecules combine with proteins in your body. By binding themselves to special sites on proteins, these small molecules, called ligands, control the production of chemicals that make your body function properly.
Ibercivis studies how these ligands interact with proteins to find new active ingredients for life-saving drugs. It's primary project at the current moment is to find a ligand that will stop the production of a protein called MGMT, which is believed to make cancer cells resistant to treatment.
Picking the right ligand is no easy task, however. There is a vast chemical library of ligands, with millions of choices that just might do the trick. Since this is far, far too many ligands to test in a laboratory, Ibercivis uses computer simulations to find out which ligands have potential and which ones are duds.
The simulation identifies the spots on the protein where the ligands can attach themselves, and tests out all the possible ways the ligand could be attached (remember, the proteins and ligands are all 3D objects). By testing the theoretical results of these matchings, scientists can tell which ones could potentially work and which ones simply won't, reducing a huge field of millions of options to just a few dozen to test in the real world.
By taking this project to shared computing, Ibercivis is making a process that would take a single computer nearly 40 years to do by itself much, much faster.
Magnetism and State Changes
Whether we realize it or not, magnets play a huge part in our lives. Most people remember having fun playing with magnets in grade school science classes, but we forget how much of a role they play in serious work in our lives. Magnets play major roles in computers, medicine, space research, and many other areas, and studying magnets can yield huge results that improve the way we live.
There are two things we probably don't think about with magnets in daily life. The first thing is is the purity of the magnet. Is every particle of material within a magnet also magnetic? What if some non-magnetic bits have gotten in to our magnet? The other thing we don't think about is what happens to magnets when they change states. For example, what would a magnet do if you were to melt it, or freeze it, or crush it, or run electricity through it, or any number of things? These would certainly change the way the magnet functions, but in what ways?
However, as magnetic science hints at the miracles it can deliver, these questions will need answering if we are to move forward. To this end, Ibercivis is coorperating to study a combination of both of the above questions. That is, how do impurities in magnets affect how the magnet is affected by state changes? Will an impure magnet be less magnetic at lower temperatures than a pure one? How much impurity does it take to make a difference? Normally, the sheer number of particles under consideration (trillions and trillions and trillions) in just an everyday magnet would make this sort of study impossible, but the shared computing of Ibercivis means the power to properly investigate the effects of impurities in state-changing magnets is within our grasp.
Results
[Where known, we should attempt to keep track of each project's publications. A good list to draw from is here. ]
Links of Interest
Ibercivis Home Page - Text in Spanish and English
Ibercivis on Facebook - Text in Spanish
Ibercivis in the Classroom
[For each project, please add a "[Projectname] in the Classroom" section-- with a link toVolunteer Computing In the Classroom and an article named "[Projectname] in the Classroom". (Then please add "[Projectname] in the Classroom" to the list on the main Education page.)]
Categories: Projects