From the category archives:

Scientific Databases

Current-Generation Supercomputers — How Fast Is Fast? Can We Build Next-Generation Supercomputers That Are As Proportionally Fast?

4 March 2011
Thumbnail image for Current-Generation Supercomputers — How Fast Is Fast? Can We Build Next-Generation Supercomputers That Are As Proportionally Fast?

Will we see advances in microprocessor speed during the next decade similar to what we saw in the past two decades? If so, how?
Researchers at DARPA asked this question, or, rather, asked: “What sort of technologies would engineers need by 2015 to build a supercomputer capable of executing a quintillion (1018) mathematical operations per [...]

Share
Read the full article →

Oxford Launches Research Data Management Website

16 November 2010
Thumbnail image for Oxford Launches Research Data Management Website

The following announcement was posted to the Research Data Management listserv on 14 November 2010 via S. Hodson. I thought it might be on interest to some of you.

The University of Oxford has recently launched a new Research Data Management Website: www.admin.ox.ac.uk/rdm
The development of this resource was ‘a close collaboration between Research Services, Computing [...]

Share
Read the full article →

Animation of the Known Universe

13 September 2010
Thumbnail image for Animation of the Known Universe

How do you create a cartographically accurate map of the known universe? You take heaps of astronomical data and animate it.
The American Museum of Natural History and the Hayden Planetarium have engaged in three-dimensional mapping of the Universe since 1998 as part of the Digital Universe Atlas. They created the animation below in [...]

Share
Read the full article →

London Underground Style Map of Modern Science — 500 Years of Science, Reason & Critical Thinking

1 September 2010
Thumbnail image for London Underground Style Map of Modern Science — 500 Years of Science, Reason & Critical Thinking

If you wanted to “celebrate the achievements of the scientific method through the age of reason, the enlightenment and modernity”, how would you show this? Would you throw a party? Write a Very Long Paper or Book? Or, like Crispian Jago, would you create a map of the past 500 years of science using “Harry [...]

Share
Read the full article →

Animation of the Tsunami Across the Pacific After the Chilean Earthquake

24 August 2010
Thumbnail image for Animation of the Tsunami Across the Pacific After the Chilean Earthquake

The earthquake in Chili on February 27th, 2010, caused massive damage within the country, but also generated a massive tsunami across the Pacific Ocean. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Center for Tsunami Research created the animation below of the tsunami as it traveled across the Pacific.
With regards to the saying that a [...]

Share
Read the full article →

A Short History of Scientific Information Services

15 April 2010
Thumbnail image for A Short History of Scientific Information Services

In the following videos, the producer traces the history of scientific communication from verbal/in-person, to letters, and then to printed journals. The producer describes the work of ISI and the company’s founder, Eugene Garfield. Journals grew from a handful to thousands. This led to classification and indexing in order to find relevant journal articles via [...]

Share
Read the full article →

Ensuring the Integrity, Accessibility, and Stewardship of Research Data in the Digital Age

7 January 2010
Ensuring the Integrity, Accessibility, and Stewardship of Research Data in the Digital Age

I just finished reading the Executive Summary of a report out by the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Ensuring the Utility and Integrity of Research Data in a Digital Age. The report is entitled, “Ensuring the Integrity, Accessibility, and Stewardship of Research Data in the Digital Age“. The full report is available online for [...]

Share
Read the full article →