GridRepublic makes it easy for people to participate in and meaningfully support scientific and medical research.  The vehicle is a novel form of philanthropy called "Volunteer Computing": from our website, PC users download a bit of software which enables them to lend their computers to Cancer, AIDS, and Malaria study, climate modeling, and other issues -- all while the devices are not otherwise in use.  By aggregating idle resources from participants around the world, research projects get access to massive "virtual" supercomputers -- thus making possible investigations that would otherwise be impossible.