Particularly pampered by the nature, Madagascar, island of the Indian Ocean, is globally known for its biodiversity’s richness. Malagasy Fauna and Flora have a very high endemic rate: 80% of the animal species and 90% of vegetation are restricted to the island. On a world scale, Madagascar represents exceptional and impressive mega diversity. Indeed, Madagascar, island of the Western Indian Ocean (COI) is a part of the 34 hot spots of the world biodiversity. It is a rather flattering label because it makes the “Big island” one of the most important regions in terms of rare habitats and leading species. The conservation of this natural richness is thus registered in the international diary. This leading position on the international chessboard has made the island an excellent land of scientific research but also a main point of ecotourism. Madagascar National Parks was founded in 1990. This Association of private right has been recognized of public utility through the decree n° 91-592 of December 4, 1991. It assures the conservation and the lasting and rational management of the national network of the national parks and reserves of Madagascar. ... [Information of the supplier, modified]
Our goal: to understand protein folding, misfolding, and related diseases. Proteins are biology's workhorses -- its "nanomachines." Before proteins can carry out these important functions, they assemble themselves, or "fold." The process of protein folding, while critical and fundamental to virtually all of biology, in many ways remains a mystery. Moreover, when proteins do not fold correctly (i.e. "misfold"), there can be serious consequences, including many well known diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Mad Cow (BSE), CJD, ALS, Huntington's, Parkinson's disease, and many Cancers and cancer-related syndromes. You can help by simply running a piece of software. Folding@home is a distributed computing project -- people from throughout the world download and run software to band together to make one of the largest supercomputers in the world. Every computer takes the project closer to our goals. Folding@home uses novel computational methods coupled to distributed computing, to simulate problems millions of times more challenging than previously achieved. We have had several successes. You can read about them on our Science page, on our Awards page, or go directly to our Results page. ... [Information of the supplier, modified]