178: new super-internet just months away

The UK's Times newspaper must be publishing more good news stories, because I seem to find quite a few hopeful articles there these days. Today's Times offering intrigued me. It documents progress in developing 'the grid' - a new, superfast internet equivalent, designed to investigate the origins of the universe (yes, just a little project...). It will go live in a few months' time, but is now being opened up to academic and research institutions beyond the original project, to include those in fields such as molecular biology and astronomy. Already, the power of 'the grid' has been deployed to help scientists assess 140 million compounds to identify those with the potential to treat malaria (a process that would have apparently taken a regular internet-linked PC around 420 years!). For more about the grid's huge potential, read today's linked article - suffice to say that it may make holographic video-conferencing feasible (I'm sure that I'm not the only one envisioning 'Red Dwarf'... well, at least RTBH readers in the UK will know what I mean). And although it's unlikely that we'll be able to access the grid directly from our own homes, telecoms companies and businesses may, and as a result the way we collaborate and communicate across the world could be revolutionized - once again...