Home PC users can now join scientists, doctors, and tech companies in their efforts to develop a treatment for the anthrax toxin. The Anthrax Research Project is making available for download a screensaver that will exploit the power of idle computers to help find a cure.

The program uses spare processing cycles on its host computer to perform pattern matching, trying to find a drug that will bond with the anthrax toxin. Results are automatically uploaded to a central project database and new data is downloaded.

That process could take years for scientists to do by hand in a lab, but the combined power of many PCs makes it much more manageable, says Colin Evans, director of distributed systems for project member Intel. Other members of the Anthrax Research Project include Microsoft, the National Foundation for Cancer Research, Oxford University, and distributed computing software company United Devices.

Evans says the screensaver is based on Intel and United Devices' Cancer Research Project, which uses the same software to search for a cancer cure. He says Intel is also interested in harnessing the technology for commercial applications. "You can supply the same computing model to problems within an enterprise," he says, cutting down on the need for expensive supercomputers.

More information on the project and a link to download the screensaver are at www.intel.com/cure.