Einstein@home is a program that uses your computer's idle time to search for spinning neutron stars (also called pulsars) using data from the LIGO and GEO gravitational wave detectors. Einstein@home is a World Year of Physics 2005 project supported by the American Physical Society (APS) and by a number of international organizations. Join Now: http://einstein.phys.uwm.edu/team_display.php?teamid=1618
Funny, I just left a job that studied pulsars/quasars full time for JPL. It is an ongoing project called QVS, or Quasar Variability Study. They use a 30-ton antenna, DSS-12 (and sometimes DSS-13), to actually "look" at quasars, or at least the radiation they'd expelled in times long past. On one hand, this research is not likely to be used for sinister purposes, as quasar data is obviously pretty harmless. On the other hand, the info gathered will likely never benefit anybody in a real and tangible way. Ever. That's one of the reasons I quit that job in the first place. Oh well, I'll look more into this thing and see if it's something I want to participate in. Since this'll run on some production servers, I want to make *very* certain that there's nothing nasty in this binary, nor in the way it sends/receives work units. If all goes well you may see me on the team yet. -AT
