Assist science with your Android device

BOINC is an application available on the Google Play store that does a similar job as other clients like [email protected] and Cell Slider, using distributed computing to crunch through tasks that would otherwise require an enormous mainframe super computer and months of coding and debugging work.

While distributed computing has been a thing for a while, this is the first time that its arrived on Android devices.

BOINC uses idle hardware resources on your device to help researchers get through mountains of data using hundreds upon thousands of processors to chip away at the workload. BOINC works over a Wi-Fi connection and can be set to only take over idle hardware at specific times, such as when you’re asleep and have your device plugged in.

BOINC screenshots for Android devices

A few projects are currently underway on BOINC to find some pretty amazing stuff. One project is using data to search for pulsars (stars which emit radiation and spin incredibly fast) while another is currently helping researchers to sequence the HIV/AIDS virus and analyse other data to help search for a cure. These projects are all within separate research groups like [email protected] and [email protected], which you can sign up to and participate in their projects.

BOINC is run by the University of Berkeley, California, and uses the program (which also has a desktop version available) to run distributed computing projects not only for the university’s own students, but other external corporations as well. BOINC on the desktop has been particularly useful in the SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) project, which analyses radio frequencies for signs of life and communications from other planets in our galaxy.

iOS and Windows Phone users will have to wait a while for their own version of the app, however the University has expressed interest in making versions of BOINC for other platforms and is currently working on an iOS port.