Content about Asia

As the second anniversary of the largest earthquake in Japanese history approaches, Ben Katsumi explains how cloud computing helped the relief effort following the natural disaster.

Plus: Discover how reseachers at the Japanese Atomic Energy Agency are using HPC to develop improved chemicals for cleaning up radioactive cesium isotopes.

To improve understanding of cosmic radiation, high-speed research networks are enabling astrophysicists to send terabytes of data across continents, between China and Italy.

Computer hard drive storage 15 times denser than today may be closer, due to discovery that surface-roughness height of 10 atoms is limit at which self-      assembly can successfully occur.

A new and easy way of accessing a global computing grid and the processing power of tens of thousands of cores are at the fingertips of anyone: researcher, student, or citizen scientist.

Researchers in China have come up with a blueprint for restructuring mega data centres to boost performance by reducing the impact of hardware failures

The Belle experiment at the KEKB electron-positron collider, based at the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) in Tsukuba, Japan, made significant contributions to the field of particle physics before it shut down 30 June 2010. Among them was the observation of charge-parity violation in B mesons. Today, physicists are preparing for the next step: SuperKEKB and Belle II. And part of those preparations include creating the computing infrastructure the experiment will need to handle massive amounts of data.

In a project that could set an example for other earthquake-prone areas, high school students in Taiwan are now taught how to install low-cost seismic sensors at home and school. Scientists use them to offer students hands-on learning in geosciences and cloud computing.

As computer chips get smaller and faster, they’re getting hotter and hotter. Typically, almost 40% of a data center’s electricity bill is because of its cooling equipment.

To help reach the exaflop barrier and beyond, some data centers are investing in better cooling than current standard technology. We’ve taken a look at seven promising methods that will help scientific e-infrastructures stay cool.

We welcome the addition of an Asia Pacific editor to the global iSGTW team.

Singapore researchers have developed a new process to increase the storage capacity of hard drive disks by six times of current levels. And all it took was a pinch of salt.

Korean-based researcher Soonwook Hwang muses on his experiences using the grid.

Profile – Domenico Vicinanza, master of fusion Musicians play ancient instruments live in Stockholm while dancers in Kuala Lumpur about 10,000 kilometers away simultaneously perform on the display above the stage. (Click on image above to see video of entire performance.) All images courtesy Domenico Vicinanza Domenico Vicinanza combines the worlds of science and music by using his talents as an engineer and a musician to bring ancient musical instruments back to life. In December 2009 Vicinanza and the 'Lost Sounds Orchestra' gave a unique performance. While playing ancient Greek music live in Stockholm on a virtual instrument, an ultra-fast, high-quality video-feed of dancers from Kuala Lumpur was displayed — simultaneously bringing two distant cultures and locations into one place. iSGTW caught up with Vicinanza for an interview.   iSGTW: What’s your job? Vicinanza: At DANTE I support international projects that use the GÉANT network, the pa