Confidence boost for modelers
It’s often said that all models are wrong, but some are useful. And one model that certainly falls in the “useful” category is the human lower-limb model that Scott Delp published...
Jun, 01, 2010
Supercomputers open up new horizons, offering the possibility of discovering new ways to understand life’s complexity
Their very names sound like dinosaurs. Teracomputers. Petacomputers. These are, in fact, the dinosaurs of the digital world—monstrous, hungry and powerful. But unlike the extinct...
Oct, 01, 2006
Simulations illuminate the inner workings of blood at multiple levels
Understanding blood flow and coagulation is crucial to treating blood disorders such as hemophilia and thrombosis, and to dealing with diseases such as AIDS, malaria, and diabetes that have...
Jun, 07, 2012
Researchers are expanding the types of data that can be used to predict infectious disease spread; developing novel ways to analyze that data; and trying to create systems that can help address public health problems today
American officials are seeking better ways to anticipate public health crises following ten years that have seen outbreaks of SARS, avian flu, H1N1, West Nile virus, cholera and, most recently,...
Apr, 01, 2011
Using computational models, researchers are gaining traction toward understanding what makes a stem cell a stem cell; how gene expression drives stem cell differentiation; why studying stem cell heterogeneity is important; and, ultimately, how stem cells control their fate.
To the casual observer, stem cells offer the almost magical promise of—Voila!—turning into exactly the kind of cell needed to repair an injured spinal cord or replace a damaged organ. And...
Apr, 01, 2010
When you step on the gas pedal, you expect acceleration (and lots of it). Stomp on the brake to come safely to a stop in the rain. Finger the power-assisted steering wheel and the car obeys. Make a...
Oct, 01, 2009
For proteins, structure information leads to an understanding of function. The same turns out to be true for ribozymes, ribosomal RNAs, and some other recently discovered RNAs. But mapping out that...
Mar, 01, 2009
The Millisecond is Attained!
Scientists have now simulated protein folding at a timescale that begins to be relevant to biology: the millisecond. Indeed, the simulation busted through the millisecond time barrier to tackle the...
Apr, 01, 2010
Moving from intuition to evidence-based intervention
To understand how muscles contract and joints flex, researchers have dissected cadavers and experimented with animals. They can describe how bones, muscles, and tendons connect in a complicated...
Jan, 01, 2007
Computer simulations suggest both existing theories of membrane fusion are valid
Cell membranes fuse with other membranes to allow material in and out. If incoming material includes invading viruses, that can be bad news for the cells. Until recently, the process of membrane...
Jan, 01, 2007