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VOL.455 NO.7209 DATED 04 SEPTEMBER 2008
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Big Data: A New Era for Science
From a small set of servers under a single desk to a global network of dedicated data centres processing information by the petabyte, Nature celebrates the 10 year anniversary of Google with a special issue. A collection of news features, essays and commentary articles examines how ‘big data’ is transforming science.
Vast quantities of new information are pouring in from high-throughput genetic sequencing machines, ever-expanding arrays of environmental sensors, ultra-high-energy particle accelerators and more. These massive datasets present scientists with unprecedented opportunities to expand their understanding of nature. But it also presents them with unprecedented challenges, as they struggle to keep their data accessible, up-to-date, well-integrated, and safe—over the course of decades, if not centuries.
In a special report on the next 10 years in technology, computer industry pundit Esther Dyson and many other experts offer their visions of the technological trends that could soon dominate our lives as thoroughly as Google does today.
The blogger, journalist and science fiction author Cory Doctorow takes readers on a first-person tour through the great data centres of Europe, including the Brobdingnagian data stores being readied for the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland. Nature’s Mitch Waldrop explores the many efforts to ‘wiki-fy’ biological databases, building biological knowledge by harnessing the combined efforts of the whole research community.
Elsewhere in this issue, a historical essay looks at the Harvard Observatory in the early twentieth century and recalls how a group of underappreciated but extremely talented young women ‘computers’ made major contributions to astronomy. A commentary article explains how the institutions and folkways of science must change to accommodate the new torrents of data. Finally, a Books and Arts essay explores the power of visualization technology to communicate and extract meaning from huge datasets.
CONTACTS
Mitch Waldrop (Nature, Washington DC)
Tel: +1 202 626 2515; E-mail: [email protected]
Rachel Twinn (Nature, London)
Tel: +44 20 7843 4658; E-mail: [email protected]
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