diff --git a/src/libcore/task.rs b/src/libcore/task.rs
index 2d2c2660fc88..f41e24c623f7 100644
--- a/src/libcore/task.rs
+++ b/src/libcore/task.rs
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ export unsupervise;
 export run_listener;
 
 export spawn;
+export spawn_with;
 export spawn_listener;
 export spawn_sched;
 export try;
@@ -338,6 +339,28 @@ fn unsupervise(builder: builder) {
     });
 }
 
+fn run_with<A:send>(-builder: builder,
+                    +arg: A,
+                    +f: fn~(+A)) {
+
+    /*!
+     *
+     * Runs a task, while transfering ownership of one argument to the
+     * child.
+     *
+     * This is useful for transfering ownership of noncopyables to
+     * another task.
+     *
+     */
+
+    let arg = ~mut some(arg);
+    do run(builder) {
+        let mut my_arg = none;
+        my_arg <-> *arg;
+        f(option::unwrap(my_arg))
+    }
+}
+
 fn run_listener<A:send>(-builder: builder,
                         +f: fn~(comm::port<A>)) -> comm::chan<A> {
     /*!
@@ -381,6 +404,22 @@ fn spawn(+f: fn~()) {
     run(builder(), f);
 }
 
+fn spawn_with<A:send>(+arg: A, +f: fn~(+A)) {
+    /*!
+     * Runs a new task while providing a channel from the parent to the child
+     *
+     * Sets up a communication channel from the current task to the new
+     * child task, passes the port to child's body, and returns a channel
+     * linked to the port to the parent.
+     *
+     * This encapsulates some boilerplate handshaking logic that would
+     * otherwise be required to establish communication from the parent
+     * to the child.
+     */
+
+    run_with(builder(), arg, f)
+}
+
 fn spawn_listener<A:send>(+f: fn~(comm::port<A>)) -> comm::chan<A> {
     /*!
      * Runs a new task while providing a channel from the parent to the child
diff --git a/src/test/bench/shootout-k-nucleotide-pipes.rs b/src/test/bench/shootout-k-nucleotide-pipes.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..7212bbc765b1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/bench/shootout-k-nucleotide-pipes.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,250 @@
+// xfail-pretty
+
+// multi tasking k-nucleotide
+
+import io::reader_util;
+
+use std;
+import std::map;
+import std::map::hashmap;
+import std::sort;
+
+import stream::{stream, chan, port};
+
+// After a snapshot, this should move into core, or std.
+mod stream {
+    import option::unwrap;
+
+    proto! streamp {
+        open:send<T: send> {
+            data(T) -> open<T>
+        }
+    }
+
+    type chan<T:send> = { mut endp: option<streamp::client::open<T>> };
+    type port<T:send> = { mut endp: option<streamp::server::open<T>> };
+
+    fn stream<T:send>() -> (chan<T>, port<T>) {
+        let (c, s) = streamp::init();
+        ({ mut endp: some(c) }, { mut endp: some(s) })
+    }
+
+    impl chan<T: send> for chan<T> {
+        fn send(+x: T) {
+            let mut endp = none;
+            endp <-> self.endp;
+            self.endp = some(
+                streamp::client::data(unwrap(endp), x))
+        }
+    }
+
+    impl port<T: send> for port<T> {
+        fn recv() -> T {
+            let mut endp = none;
+            endp <-> self.endp;
+            let streamp::data(x, endp) = unwrap(
+                pipes::recv(unwrap(endp)));
+            self.endp = some(endp);
+            x
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+// given a map, print a sorted version of it
+fn sort_and_fmt(mm: hashmap<~[u8], uint>, total: uint) -> str { 
+   fn pct(xx: uint, yy: uint) -> float {
+      ret (xx as float) * 100f / (yy as float);
+   }
+
+   fn le_by_val<TT: copy, UU: copy>(kv0: (TT,UU), kv1: (TT,UU)) -> bool {
+      let (_, v0) = kv0;
+      let (_, v1) = kv1;
+      ret v0 >= v1;
+   }
+
+   fn le_by_key<TT: copy, UU: copy>(kv0: (TT,UU), kv1: (TT,UU)) -> bool {
+      let (k0, _) = kv0;
+      let (k1, _) = kv1;
+      ret k0 <= k1;
+   }
+
+   // sort by key, then by value
+   fn sortKV<TT: copy, UU: copy>(orig: ~[(TT,UU)]) -> ~[(TT,UU)] {
+      ret sort::merge_sort(le_by_val, sort::merge_sort(le_by_key, orig));
+   }
+
+   let mut pairs = ~[];
+
+   // map -> [(k,%)]
+   mm.each(fn&(key: ~[u8], val: uint) -> bool {
+      vec::push(pairs, (key, pct(val, total)));
+      ret true;
+   });
+
+   let pairs_sorted = sortKV(pairs);
+   
+   let mut buffer = "";
+
+   pairs_sorted.each(fn&(kv: (~[u8], float)) -> bool unsafe {
+      let (k,v) = kv;
+      buffer += (#fmt["%s %0.3f\n", str::to_upper(str::unsafe::from_bytes(k)), v]);
+      ret true;
+   });
+
+   ret buffer;
+}
+
+// given a map, search for the frequency of a pattern
+fn find(mm: hashmap<~[u8], uint>, key: str) -> uint {
+   alt mm.find(str::bytes(str::to_lower(key))) {
+      option::none      { ret 0u; }
+      option::some(num) { ret num; }
+   }
+}
+
+// given a map, increment the counter for a key
+fn update_freq(mm: hashmap<~[u8], uint>, key: &[u8]) {
+    let key = vec::slice(key, 0, key.len());
+    alt mm.find(key) {
+      option::none      { mm.insert(key, 1u      ); }
+      option::some(val) { mm.insert(key, 1u + val); }
+    }
+}
+
+// given a ~[u8], for each window call a function
+// i.e., for "hello" and windows of size four,
+// run it("hell") and it("ello"), then return "llo"
+fn windows_with_carry(bb: ~[const u8], nn: uint,
+                      it: fn(window: &[u8])) -> ~[u8] {
+   let mut ii = 0u;
+
+   let len = vec::len(bb);
+   while ii < len - (nn - 1u) {
+      it(vec::view(bb, ii, ii+nn));
+      ii += 1u;
+   }
+
+   ret vec::slice(bb, len - (nn - 1u), len); 
+}
+
+fn make_sequence_processor(sz: uint, from_parent: stream::port<~[u8]>,
+                           to_parent: stream::chan<str>) {
+   
+   let freqs: hashmap<~[u8], uint> = map::bytes_hash();
+   let mut carry: ~[u8] = ~[];
+   let mut total: uint = 0u;
+
+   let mut line: ~[u8];
+
+   loop {
+
+      line = from_parent.recv();
+      if line == ~[] { break; }
+
+       carry = windows_with_carry(carry + line, sz, |window| {
+         update_freq(freqs, window);
+         total += 1u;
+      });
+   }
+
+   let buffer = alt sz { 
+       1u { sort_and_fmt(freqs, total) }
+       2u { sort_and_fmt(freqs, total) }
+       3u { #fmt["%u\t%s", find(freqs, "GGT"), "GGT"] }
+       4u { #fmt["%u\t%s", find(freqs, "GGTA"), "GGTA"] }
+       6u { #fmt["%u\t%s", find(freqs, "GGTATT"), "GGTATT"] }
+      12u { #fmt["%u\t%s", find(freqs, "GGTATTTTAATT"), "GGTATTTTAATT"] }
+      18u { #fmt["%u\t%s", find(freqs, "GGTATTTTAATTTATAGT"), "GGTATTTTAATTTATAGT"] }
+        _ { "" }
+   };
+
+   //comm::send(to_parent, #fmt["yay{%u}", sz]);
+    to_parent.send(buffer);
+}
+
+// given a FASTA file on stdin, process sequence THREE
+fn main(args: ~[str]) {
+   let rdr = if os::getenv("RUST_BENCH").is_some() {
+       // FIXME: Using this compile-time env variable is a crummy way to
+       // get to this massive data set, but #include_bin chokes on it (#2598)
+       let path = path::connect(
+           #env("CFG_SRC_DIR"),
+           "src/test/bench/shootout-k-nucleotide.data"
+           );
+       result::get(io::file_reader(path))
+   } else {
+      io::stdin()
+   };
+
+
+
+   // initialize each sequence sorter
+   let sizes = ~[1u,2u,3u,4u,6u,12u,18u];
+    let streams = vec::map(sizes, |_sz| some(stream()));
+    let streams = vec::to_mut(streams);
+    let mut from_child = ~[];
+    let to_child   = vec::mapi(sizes, |ii, sz| {
+        let mut stream = none;
+        stream <-> streams[ii];
+        let (to_parent_, from_child_) = option::unwrap(stream);
+
+        vec::push(from_child, from_child_);
+
+        let (to_child, from_parent) = stream::stream();
+
+        do task::spawn_with(from_parent) |from_parent| {
+            make_sequence_processor(sz, from_parent, to_parent_);
+        };
+        
+        to_child
+    });
+         
+   
+   // latch stores true after we've started
+   // reading the sequence of interest
+   let mut proc_mode = false;
+
+   while !rdr.eof() {
+      let line: str = rdr.read_line();
+
+      if str::len(line) == 0u { cont; }
+
+      alt (line[0], proc_mode) {
+
+         // start processing if this is the one
+         ('>' as u8, false) {
+            alt str::find_str_from(line, "THREE", 1u) {
+               option::some(_) { proc_mode = true; }
+               option::none    { }
+            }
+         }
+
+         // break our processing
+         ('>' as u8, true) { break; }
+
+         // process the sequence for k-mers
+         (_, true) {
+            let line_bytes = str::bytes(line);
+
+           for sizes.eachi |ii, _sz| {
+               let mut lb = line_bytes;
+               to_child[ii].send(lb);
+            }
+         }
+
+         // whatever
+         _ { }
+      }
+   }
+
+   // finish...
+    for sizes.eachi |ii, _sz| {
+      to_child[ii].send(~[]);
+   }
+
+   // now fetch and print result messages
+    for sizes.eachi |ii, _sz| {
+      io::println(from_child[ii].recv());
+   }
+}
+