Latest in an irregular series, some of whose previous entries were Edge.org and the Girl Scouts...
I examine the Folding@home distributed computing project with reference to the costs (electricity resulting in air pollution causing deaths) and benefits (some papers): http://www.gwern.net/Charity is not about helping. Additional data on either side of the cost-benefit is welcome.
(I also recently split out my essay describing things I have changed my mind on.)
I did not run into this in my reading, no. What is your source for these claims?
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=hooked-from-the-first-cigarette (link is paygated, I read it in the dead tree edition of the magazine)
http://www.jfponline.com/Pages.asp?AID=5711