" As if Folding@home wasn't enough, the next time you hear someone belittling videogame consoles such as the PlayStation 3, and even the Nintendo Wii, feel free to share this enlightening news bit. The New Scientists reports that researchers, chemists, physicists, among other scientists all around the world are using the PlayStation 3 as a means of simulating various events - be it intergalactic or pharmaceutical.

An Astrophysicist from the University of Massachusetts, Gaurav Khanna, has linked 16 PlayStation 3's, running the PS3 enabled Linux OS, in order to simulate the occurance of gravity waves when two black holes collide. Sounds nutty, doesn't it?

Utilizing standard C-language executions, Todd Martinez, chemist at the University of Illinois states that one PlayStation 3 can perform calculations for him 130 times faster than an ordinary PC can. "We can now do the things we were killing ourselves to do," Martinez said. Martinez is calculating the energy of the electrons in 1,000 atoms - the equivalent of a small protein.

More over, surgeons are using the Nintendo Wii remote as a tool to hone their surgical skills with. Think of it as a much more simulated game of Operation, minus the obnoxious buzzing noise when you touch the borders. Additionally, they also use the Wiimote as a means of gaging deficiencies in a patient - those, in particular who've suffered strokes or have Parkinson's disease.

As many of you know may know, the PlayStation 3 makes this kind of work possible thanks to the immensely powerful Cell CPU. The Nintendo Wii Remote, on the other hand, features an accelerometer that senses the direction and speed that it's being moved at.

Videogames are still toys, eh?"

This is kinda cool, I know its been going on for a while, but it got me thinking; how many PS3's and Wii's have been sold for medical/scientific reasons?

From the sounds of this articles, its a pretty significant number.

EDIT: oops forgot the link:

http://www.psxextreme.com/ps3-news/2580.html 

There are more accurate, though more expensive of course, accelerometers out there besides the Wiimote...not sure why that'd be so special.

The Cell is great, but of course it's best with crunching numbers as we've seen...haven't yet seen its benefit in gaming.

Well that was one of the promoting points of the PS3 at launch they walked about how their Cell processor was being used in the medical field for things like you said, the coolest thing I saw with the Wii is head tracking made by that professor, it's pretty sweet and is getting a lot of attention, could be the new thing for VR.

ya people just dont understand the uses of the tech behind the consoles. Even though i think there are better ways to train our doctors.... i dear god hope there are. lol

The Wiimote is special in that it costs very little compared to the better accelerometer devices. And the Wii as well is considerably more affordable than most of the training equipment they can buy.

the cell also benefits ultrasound and the main medical imagery side. Instead of results in days you can get results in hours.

 for beginning surgeon training I agree but I wouldnt trust my life with a surgeon if they never touched a surgical knife before. Robots can do way more precise movements then even surgeons. Lets more invest in better robots for medical purposes. 

You come across some good points. Its funny b.c a few years a go when I was reading National Geo. they said that playing Super Monkey Ball helps surgeons perform better in surgery.

Your right.!! Videogames are NOT just toys.

Why do you think that calling videogames toy is belittling them? That assumes toys are bad. I think toys are rather fun, and videogames are my favourite toys.