Information Technology

Determining the three-dimensional position of Mars Express in space with as much precision as possible, at a distance of 155 million kilometres away from Earth, is no simple business.

If the Solar System were shrunk down so that Earth was only the size of a soccer ball, then Mars Express would be a speck of dust floating well over two kilometres away!

ESA ground stations have kept track of the spacecraft’s range and velocity ever since launch.

By measuring the ‘Doppl

Scientists are finding a computer program called Elves to be a nearly magical solution to the tedious and time-consuming task of determining the 3-D shape of proteins – a major focus of cutting-edge proteomics today – from X-ray diffraction data.

According to Elves developer James Holton, who recently received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, researchers can unleash Elves on a set of X-ray diffraction data and go on to other things – or take a nap – while the computer

Since most criminals only strike when they aren’t being watched, reliable surveillance of homes and businesses is a round-the-clock job. A University of Rhode Island researcher has made that job considerably easier and less expensive, thanks to a new technology he developed that can automatically track moving objects in real time.

Using low-cost, commercially available hardware, the Automatic Image Motion Seeking (AIMS) camera follows a moving object and keeps the target at the center of the

What if a personal computer knew how its user is feeling?

That computer on your desk is just your helper. But soon it may become a very close friend. Now it sends your e-mails, links you to the Web, does your computations, and pays your bills. Soon it could warn you when you’re talking too much at a meeting, if scientists at Sandia National Laboratories’ Advanced Concepts Group have their way. Or it could alert others in your group to be attentive when you have something imp

Until recently, researchers and their assistants spent countless hours poring over seemingly endless volumes of journals and scientific literature for information pertinent to their studies in fields such as cancer, AIDS, pediatrics and cardiology.

But thanks to new software developed by bioinformatics researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, scientists can now easily identify obscure commonalities in research data and directly relate them to their studies, saving money and

Grid computing is one of the hot topics in distributed computing. Using a Grid of computers, located around the world, it is possible to carry out truly massive calculations. To achieve this requires a high level of interoperability between computer systems. Addressing this is IST project GRIP. Its system will be used to enable the European Weather services to share resources and allow applications the resources for which are beyond the capabilities of a single service.

Grid computing is o