June 29, 2005
Computational Biology Journal
The Public Library of Science, has unveiled a new journal this week - The Journal of Computational Biology.
PLoS Computational Biology features works of exceptional significance that further our understanding of living systems at all scales through the application of computational methods.
Computation, driven in part by the influx of large amounts of data at all biological scales, has become a central feature of research and discovery in the life sciences. This work tends to be published either in methods journals that are not read by experimentalists or in one of the numerous journals reporting novel biology, each of which publishes only small amounts of computational research. Hence, the impact of this research is diluted. PLoS Computational Biology provides a home for important biological research driven by computation--a place where computational biologists can find the best work produced by their colleagues, and where the broader biological community can see the myriad ways computation is advancing our understanding of biological systems.
PLoS Computational Biology Home
June 08, 2005
More People Consult Google About Health
From the London Times
GOOGLE, the internet search engine, has now become one of the patient’s best friends, second only to the family doctor.
A survey of 1,000 people found that 12 per cent turn first to Google. Fewer consult family and friends, the media or medical encyclopaedias when faced with a medical problem. The internet is consulted by 21 per cent as the first port of call. Some use search engines other than Google and some log on directly to other websites.
Although more — 52 per cent — would see a GP first, the survey shows how important the internet is in informing patients. Friends and family, a traditional source of guidance, were cited by 10 per cent.
The scarey part...
Most Googlers believe that the information they find is accurate. While 94 per cent trust their GP, nearly as many (86 per cent) believe that what they find from a Google search is accurate.
The survey was carried out by ICM Healthcare for Core-Create, a design company that specialises in visual communications for healthcare clients.
June 07, 2005
IBM To Create Digital 3D Model of the Brain
IBM and The Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) are today announcing a major joint research initiative – nicknamed the Blue Brain Project – to take brain research to a new level. 
Over the next two years scientists from both organizations will work together using the huge computational capacity of IBM’s eServer Blue Gene supercomputer to create a detailed model of the circuitry in the neocortex – the largest and most complex part of the human brain. By expanding the project to model other areas of the brain, scientists hope to eventually build an accurate, computer-based model of the entire brain.
EPFL has already generated exciting results through wet lab experiments. Using the huge computational capacity of IBM's eServer Blue Gene, researchers from IBM and EPFL will be able to create a detailed model of the circuitry in the neocortex – the largest and most complex part of the human brain. (images from EPFL).
A Forest of Neurons - A dye is injected into each neuron and then developed in order to reveal the morphology. This image shows a minute fraction of the cells and connections within the microcircuitry of the neocortex.
Many more interesting images at href="http://domino.research.ibm.com/comm/pr.nsf/pages/rsc.bluegene_cognitive.html">IBM site