Your smartphone can contribute to cancer research while you sleep

We've come to terms with the fact that our smartphones need to be charged daily, so we just charge them while we sleep. A new initiative means that they can have a meaningful contribution to cancer research while we sleep.

Vodafone's DreamLab is described as the first "smartphone supercomputer." It uses the power of idle smartphones to process small problems and send results back to research teams.

This is similar to the SETI project, which called upon desktop PCs to process data generated by radio telescopes looking for extra-terrestrial life.

All you need to do is download the free DreamLab app to your Android handset, plug in your phone to charge, and let it do its thing. You can choose the types of cancer research you’d like to support and how much mobile network or Wi-Fi data you'd like to donate.

There is a surprising amount of power packed into your smartphone. DreamLab says that one of the things slowing research is limited access to supercomputers to crunch complex data. This app gives Garvan scientists access to a "dedicated virtual supercomputer" and frees up computing resources for other research activity.

You can find out more information about the project in the video below. The DreamLab app is now available to download from the Google Play Store.