AS CHIPS get ever more powerful, processors more nimble and memories more capacious, it is reassuring to see the human brain keep its starring role as the most extraordinary computer we have, even when it comes to number crunching.
For around a decade, millions of people have taken part in the most famous distributed computing project of all. With SETI@home you can download a screensaver that analyses chunks of radio-telescope data for signals from an alien intelligence.
Now, though, there’s a new generation of such projects and your brain is the central processor (see “Your computer needs you”).…
