Predicting climate change

The BBC is promoting climateprediction.net, also known as the biggest climate experiment ever undertaken. The project uses distributed computing (as opposed to one big supercomputer) as a prediction method. Now you can donate your computer’s idle time to science, and even watch your planet's climate on a screensaver.

The upgraded design should provide a more accurate representation of the real world, where heat and gases are continuously exchanged between the atmosphere and the ocean, and should produce more realistic projections of future climate…

No two simulations produce exactly the same results; overall, the project produces a picture of the possible range of outcomes given the present state of scientific knowledge.

The newest version of the 2-year-old project boasts a “fully dynamic ocean”. Initial results should be available in May. Or, you could always donate your PC's time to fight AIDS.