Issues

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Where Walmart leads, can LIMS be far behind?

2 July 2005

Peter Rees looks at a piece of old technology that is finding new uses in laboratory information management systems

Feature

An engineer takes on LIMS

2 July 2005

Dave Champagne, head of Thermo's informatics division

Feature

The benefits of a virtual European supercomputer

2 July 2005

Hermann Lederer reports on the DEISA Consortium, a major step towards an integrated European HPC infrastructure

Feature

Better computational descriptions of science

2 July 2005

Simon White believes that information can be better shared if everyone makes use of ontologies

Feature

'S' is for seaside, sea slug and statistics

2 July 2005

Felix Grant has been having text message conversations with a family of rocks, then analysing them with the latest S-Plus

Feature

The colour of the past

2 July 2005

Mathematical operations on an array of pixels, made easy by software such as Matlab, can reveal the surface of Venus and the world of pre-Revolutionary Russia, Ray Girvan discovers

Triangulation and topology from Canada to China

2 May 2005

John Murphy profiles a pioneer of geographical information systems

Feature

In place of innovation... Integration

2 May 2005

In different disciplines and across companies of different sizes, Tom Wilkie finds convergent trends of integration and interoperability that will shape scientific computing

Feature

Archive with care

2 May 2005

Recording research data electronically sounds like a good idea; but, Peter Rees asks, can you produce that information in court 50 years later?

Feature

Thinking about life systematically

2 May 2005

Computing in the life sciences used to be about gene and protein sequences; now researchers are adopting a systems approach, reports Clare Sansom

Feature

Making waves - singly

2 May 2005

First observed in the waters of a Scottish canal, solitary waves, or solitons, have applications right across physics, Ray Girvan discovers

Feature

Easing the way to fuels paradise

2 May 2005

Using a novel combination of maths and text software, Felix Grant has made it easier to explore the uncertainties of alternative energy policy

Feature

Desperately seeking solutions

2 May 2005

The productivity of Felix Grant's information searches has risen a thousand-fold with new software

Joining up the data from clinical trials

1 April 2005

Clinical trials, not finding new chemical entities, are the most costly aspect of drug development. Peter Rees looks at the software solutions that might make clinical trials cheaper and faster

Feature

Sound sense

1 March 2005

Ray Girvan reports on sonification - the representation of data as sound. Well-established in applications for the visually impaired, it has far wider scientific possibilities

Feature

Computing, cricket and genetic variation

1 March 2005

John Murphy profiles a leading statistician of our DNA

Feature

Joining up the data from clinical trials

1 March 2005

Clinical trials, not finding new chemical entities, are the most costly aspect of drug development. Peter Rees looks at the software solutions that might make clinical trials cheaper and faster

Feature

Kitu pya sikuzote njoo Afrika

1 March 2005

Providing scientific software is not just a matter of development, but makes strategic sense, Felix Grant believes

The beat goes on

1 January 2005

A well (or badly!) timed baseball to the chest can cause cardiac fibrillation. Ray Girvan explores how science is unlocking the secrets of the human heart

Feature

The science of the sound of the heart

1 January 2005

Felix Grant 'sonified' his friends' heartbeats and found that young men respond to popular music's base rhythm, but young women to female vocals

Feature

LIMS AND ENTERPRISE INTEGRATION

1 January 2005

No laboratory is an island and laboratory software has to talk to enterprise resource planning software, as Mark Gonzalez explains

Feature

Better records lead to faster science

1 January 2005

Electronic signatures can bring a ninefold increase in laboratory throughput, Peter Rees discovered. But first, companies may have to throw away popular software

Teaching computers to think and play games

1 November 2004

John Murphy talks to Christopher Bishop, assistant director of the Microsoft Research Laboratory, Cambridge

Feature

How to capture data to share

1 November 2004

Electronic lab notebooks can help researchers in small as well as large companies, Peter Rees discovered

Feature

How software can optimise laboratory operations

1 November 2004

Powerful scientific instruments need powerful software, but help is at hand in simplifying the complexity, writes James Aitken

Count me in

1 September 2004

Felix Grant believes that software can open up the big ideas in mathematics to the wider public, democratising the subject, and making it part of popular culture

Feature

Although sometimes their role is overlooked, distributors can add value to scientific software through the technical support they provide. John Murphy talked to Adept Scientific, one of the largest distributors

Feature

Go with the workflow

1 September 2004

If the trend is towards standardisation, how can LIMS be tailored to fit individual customers? The answer lies with workflows, according to Colin Thurston

Feature

Standardise, centralise, enterprise

1 September 2004

Integrating LIMS with enterprise resource planning software is topical, but Peter Rees found that standardising and centralising are essential first steps

Feature

The big picture for nanotechnology and computational science

1 September 2004

It's a science about working on the small scale, but it has big promise. Michael Francis of Accelrys looks to the future of nanotechnology

July / August 2004

Feature

Scientific computation is the key to success

1 July 2004

Dr John McAlister finds that scientific computing is not an end in itself but that success depends on it

Feature

Neither instruments nor informatics alone

1 July 2004

Rohit Khanna looks forward to the integration of instruments and software to master the mounds of data created in the lab

Feature

LIMS services on the web

1 July 2004

Web services will offer a way for LIMS to integrate with enterprise resource planning systems, says Peter Rees

Feature

Integration, Integration, Integration

1 July 2004

Tom Wilkie looks at 10 years of scientific computing

Feature

Changing the world with technical computing

1 July 2004

Conrad Wolfram believes we should treat computers like cars: we should specify the problem and let the computer do the working out

Feature

Predicting protein structure and function

1 July 2004

Clare Sansom talks to Janet Thornton, a pioneer of computing for the life sciences

Feature

Only multiphysics meets future requirements

1 July 2004

We must move beyond software designed to solve single physics problems, according to Lars Langemyr

Feature

Partnership and integration the future for LIMS

1 July 2004

The development of LIMS will involve not only integrated data, but integration with enterprise applications, in Kevin Smith's view

Feature

A sporting chance for science

1 July 2004

Looking for something to keep you fit? Michael Kenward surfs for sport science

Feature

Understanding images on the large scale

1 July 2004

After text-mining, Doug Paxson believes images will be next to be mined for information

Feature

Informatics for Integrated Science

1 July 2004

Bruce von Herrmann believes that better informatics is the only way to meet the challenge of increasing complexity in the life sciences

Feature

Data beyond words - the future of scientific communication

1 July 2004

Paul R. Topping scents a sea change in the way scientific research will be created, published, and read in the coming decade

Feature

Turning the tide of pharmaceutical productivity

1 July 2004

A combination of youth and maturity is required for the successful application of computing in the life sciences, according to Neil Kipling

Feature

Mathematics and models

1 July 2004

Jack Little believes that model-based design is the best way to turn new ideas into real things

Feature

Information - the lifeblood of life science

1 July 2004

Susie Stephens and Dennis Constantinou see Grid computing as the way to master the flood of information from the life sciences

May / June 2004

Feature

The Web that changed the world

1 May 2004

Scientific Computing World appeared just as the World Wide Web was escaping from particle physics. Michael Kenward reflects on a decade of rapid progress

Feature

Meeting in the middle?

1 May 2004

Steve Maginn looks at the two ends of the chemistry software industry

Feature

A return to innovation

1 May 2004

Chris Randles praises XML as a basis for innovation and technical communication

Feature

Put down that pen and paper

1 May 2004

The electronic lab notebook has been heralded before, says Peter Rees. But it might just happen this time

Feature

The future of computational science

1 May 2004

Computational science will go deeper and wider in the next 10 years. But Scott Kahn believes that the most profound changes will come through the integration of methods and domains

Feature

ChemAnalytics offers access to chemical structures and analytic data

1 May 2004

Antony Williams believes that organisations need to recognise the value of organising themselves to integrate chemical structure and analytical information

Feature

Trends in instrument-to-LIMS interfacing

1 May 2004

Robert Pavlis believes there has never been a more exciting time in instrument interfacing

Feature

Moving ahead with advancing technology

1 May 2004

Robert Massie and Ramond D'Angelo believe that, as the physical limitations of processing, storing, and delivering information diminish, the possibilities of the digital research environment keep expanding

Feature

Redefining disease

1 May 2004

Guy Lefever sees seven new technologies, all related to scientific computing, transforming the face of medicine

Feature

Bringing together knowledge and maths

1 May 2004

C. James Cooper looks forward to an exciting decade, as the universal language of mathematics underpins efforts to integrate knowledge from different domains

Feature

The future of virtual instrumentation

1 May 2004

James Truchard believes that performance will improve, while costs and development time will decrease, making engineers more productive through the use of virtual instrumentation