Content about chemistry

Using the Oakley supercomputer and a very small, frozen tuning fork, Joseph Heremans is rewriting our science textbooks. His computational research team has discovered that phonons — sound and heat particles — yield to magnetic fields.

Naturally occurring crystalline structures called zeolites have the ability to separate molecules, speed chemical reactions, rearrange atomic bonds, and break down long chains of hydrogen and carbon atoms. Scientists screened a large database of possible zeolite structures to find a few that can lead to cheaper ethanol and better engine lubrication. What they’ve discovered could mean greater engine efficiency and big savings for you.

Big data opens doors previously closed to researchers, yet the volume of data sends scientists looking for analytical tools to bring order from the informational cacophony. Prior to tools like Bioconductor, there were few options for working with quantitative data types; a discordant score for deciphering the human genetic code was the result.

Today, genomic analysis machines create a common language for users, and build a worldwide community to foster developers from among subject matter experts. These instruments make beautiful music from a mass of genomic information.

UC San Diego School of Medicine scientists have teamed up with Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center engineers to create 3D models of enzymes that cause inflammation. What they've learned could bring relief to victims of asthma and arthritis.

Last week, iSGTW attended the International Supercomputing Conference (ISC’14) in Leipzig, Germany. The event featured a range of speakers representing a wide variety of research domains. Awards given by PRACE and Germany’s Gauss Centre for Supercomputing highlighted some of the outstanding research on show at the event. And, of course, the new TOP500 list of the world’s fastest supercomputers was announced.

The University of Texas at Austin and TACC competed against the top supercomputing centers and universities to claim one of the most advanced systems in the world — and won. The prize, an estimated $50 million-plus investment over a four-year period.

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.

The Jim Gray eScience Award 2012 was presented to ChemSpider founder Antony John Williams at last month’s eScience conference in Chicago. ChemSpider is a free online database, containing chemical information on over 26 million molecules.

The Sequoia supercomputer has simulated the human heart at an unprecedented scale, a breakthrough for the use of computational medicine by doctors to prevent sudden cardiac death.

Meet ENCODE, the ultimate guide to the human genome. But the project isn't just changing the way we look at our DNA, it's also revolutionizing the way in which scientist publish their research findings.

Grid computing is helping scientists to design cheaper and greener plastics for everyday use.