Content about CERN

CERN openlab is a unique public-private partnership between CERN and leading ICT companies. Founded in 2001 to develop the innovative ICT systems needed to cope with the unprecedented computing challenges of the Large Hadron Collider, CERN openlab unites science and industry at the cutting edge of research and innovation.

CERN openlab recently entered its fifth phase, which will run until the end of 2017. Now, for the first time in its history, it has extended beyond the CERN community to include other major European and international research laboratories. 

Physicists can tell the future — or at least foresee multiple possible versions of it. They do this through computer simulations. Simulations can help scientists predict what will happen when a particular kind of particle hits a particular kind of material in a particle detector. But physicists are not the only scientists interested in predicting how particles and other matter will interact. This information is critical in multiple fields, especially those concerned about the effects of radiation. Physicists and other scientists use the GEANT4 toolkit to identify problems before they occur.

iSGTW recently attended the ISC Cloud '14 conference in Heidelberg, Germany. The event focused on the intersection between cloud and high-performance computing (HPC), with in-depth first-hand reports on the latest technological developments in these fields. Researchers from a wide range of organizations discussed their work and offered practical recommendations about how to best utilize cloud-based computing.

Last week, in a ceremony held at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France, CERN and UNESCO commemorated the signature of the CERN Convention and the subsequent 60 years of science for peace.

This year’s International Supercomputing Conference (ISC’14) in Leipzig, Germany, is now just one month away. iSGTW speaks to Niko Neufeld ahead of his talk at the event, ‘The Boson in the Haystack’, which will take place during the session on ‘Emerging Trends for Big Data in HPC’ on Wednesday 25 June.

Last month, CERN played host to the CineGlobe International Film Festival. The event featured a hackathon event organized by the Tribeca Film Institute, as well as music produced through data sonification.

Research output amounts to much more than just academic papers. It is important that datasets, and the software used to analyze them, are also properly cited and that the researchers behind these are given credit for their work. Preserving software and making it citable is also vital in ensuring that scientific results are reproducible by other research groups.

Karlheinz Meier, one of the three co-directors of Europe’s Human Brain Project, will deliver a keynote talk at this summer's ISC'14 event in Leipzig, Germany.

Funded by the European Commission, the Human Brain Project is an ambitious endeavor, with the intention of greatly advancing the understanding of the human brain using cutting-edge computer technologies.

Last month, local OpenStack users from France and Switzerland held a meeting at CERN. iSGTW discusses the event with Tim Bell, a member of the OpenStack management board and leader of the Operating Systems and Infrastructure Services group within CERN’s IT department. Bell explains the vital role OpenStack plays in enabling CERN to flexibly tailor its computing resources to meet demand, as well as its importance for other organizations across the globe.

Scientific output is not just about academic papers: datasets, software, and various forms of multimedia may be produced in the course of research. It is vital that these diverse outputs be citable using persistent identifiers, so that the sharing and the reuse of such materials can be tracked. 

Two weeks ago, the ODIN first year conference was held at CERN to discuss the challenges related to increasing the interoperability of persistent author and object identifiers. These efforts are of particular relevance to large research organizations like CERN, where some high-level datasets have recently been made available to other scientists for re-use.  Equally, the large numbers of collaborators working on the experiments on the Large Hadron Collider can make correct attribution of articles and datasets challenging, too.