http://blogs.nature.com/news/2012/08/d-wave-quantum-computer-solves-protein-folding-problem.html
It’s also worth pointing that conventional computers could already solve these particular protein folding problems.
You have a computer doing something we could already do, but less efficiently than existing methods, which have not been impressively useful themselves?
ETA: https://plus.google.com/103530621949492999968/posts/U11X8sec1pU
The G+ post explains what it's good for pretty well, doesn't it?
It's not a dramatic improvement (yet), but it's a larger potential speedup than anything else I've seen on the protein-folding problem lately.
Kim Suozzi was a neuroscience student with brain cancer who wanted to be cryonically preserved but lacked the funds. She appealed to reddit and a foundation was set up, called the Society for Venturism. Enough money was raised, and when she died on the January 17th, she was preserved by Alcor.
I wasn't sure if I should post about this, but I was glad to see that enough money was raised and it was discussed on LessWrong here, here, and here.
Source
Edit: It looks like Alcor actually worked with her to lower the costs, and waived some of the fees.
Edit 2: The Society for Venturism has been around for a while, and wasn't set up just for her.