Distributed computing projects have a degree of popularity at PriusChat and a relatively new one caught my eye. Read about it: Climateprediction.net | The world's largest climate forecasting experiment for the 21st century. They are downscaling global models to finer grids. Had to happen sooner or later, but borrowing some resources from many small computers can make it happen faster. Same story as with SETI or protein folding or prime numbers, etc. In this case it looks like you will get to see some results from your computer's work - that does not always happen. Incidentally their "Climate science explained" pages are not too shabby, but I'm well aware that not everyone here um shares that world view. PS: I may be in the internet-free zone for a few weeks (ecology field course), so do the best you can in my absence
