Anthrax and the grid

Editor's note: With the recent news about anthrax, we thought readers might be interested to know more about the grid effort to decipher the secrets of this bacterium.

Bacillus anthracis, the bug that causes anthrax, is a peculiar creature.

Even though it resembles a soil-growing bacterium, it just hibernates when in the ground, in some cases lying dormant for hundreds of years until ingested by a suitable animal host. Then it springs to life, often causing rapid, even fatal, illness.

For years, scientists have wondered how and why this occurs.

Now, they think they are on the trail to knowing more . . .

Feature - Data storage

Chronopolis

How do you store 50 terabytes of archived data across a wide range of domains, and save 2.5 million trees worth of paper to boot?

Digitally, with Chronopolis.

Formally called the Chronopolis Digital Preservation Demonstration Project, the project is run by The San Diego Supercomputing Center, among others.

Opinion - Cloud computing

What clouds and grids can learn from each other

Cloud applications will likely follow similar stages as the grid. Just as challenging are the cultural, mental, legal, and political aspects. It is hard to imagine users easily entrusting their corporate assets and sensitive data to cloud service providers. Today, the status of clouds seems to be similar to that of grids in the early 2000s.

Link of the week

LHC, the underground movie

So, you think you have already heard of all the ways in which the work of the Large Hadron Collider can be described?

But have you seen the underground version?

A music video was done on-site, in rap form, with portions filmed below ground in the tunnel near the supercooled magnets, making for a truly cool movie.

It was posted to the US LHC Blog . . .

Image of the week

Summertime on the Dubna