The International Business Machine decides to fight the global food crisis by participating in the 'superior rice' development project.

'Nutritious Rice for the World' is designed to enable farmers and agriculturalists pinpoint which plants should be selected for producing more rice per hectare and which ones are more resistant to weather changes.

Computational biologists at the University of Washington say the three-dimensional modeling program studies structure proteins in rice at an atomic level and uses crossbreeding techniques to produce a super hybrid rice grain.

Traditional laboratory approaches require decades to identify the detailed structure and function of critical proteins; however, IBM's 'World Community Grid' shortens this time to less than 2 years.

Individuals with a personal computer and internet access from anywhere in the world can donate unused computer time at 'www.worldcommunitygrid.org'.

According to IBM, about a million PCs equivalent to the processing power of 167 teraflops have registered for the 'World Community Grid' project so far.

PKH/HGH