From the NanoHive@Home website:

NanoHive@Home is a distributed computing system used for large-scale nanotech systems simulation and analysis that draws its computing power from otherwise idle computers sitting in people's homes. Users download and install a special client program onto their computer. When the computer's screensaver comes on, the client program requests some work from a NanoHive@Home server, calculates it with the NanoHive-1 simulator, then sends the results back to the server.

The goal of NanoHive@Home is to perform large-scale nanosystems simulation and analysis that is otherwise too intensive to be calculated via normal means, and thereby enable further scientific study in the field of nanotechnology.

Here are some key points about NanoHive@Home with links to more detailed explanations:

• Completely open-source and free (as in beer)
• Not-for-profit, and with all results made available to the public domain, free and clear
• Benefits humanity by advancing our knowledge and understanding of nanotechnology
• Calculations are performed with state-of-the-art simulation software making the most use of your donated computing power
• Attention to security and safety so that you can run our software without worrying that it will damage your computer
• Interesting and interactive graphics and screensaver that shows more of the simulation results as they become available
• Uses the popular Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC) platform so you can contribute via a familiar interface