Roland Piquepaille writes on his weblog: The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute is one of the largest genomics data centers in the world. In “The Hum and the Genome“, the Scientist writes about the IT infrastructure needed to handle the avalanche of data that researchers have to analyze. With its 2,000 processors and its 300 terabytes of storage, the data center uses today about 0.75 megawatts (MW) of power at a cost of €140,000 per year (about $170K). But the data center will need more than a petabyte of storage within three years, and its yearly electricity bill will reach €500,000 (more than $600K) for about 1.4 MW, enough to power more than a thousand homes. Read the full article, and see diagrams at the weblog.

* Roland Piquepaille’s Technology Trends | Decoding the Genome Needs Superpower

/. FiReaNGeL writes “Scientists have constructed a software capable of simulating organisms at the molecular, single-cell and population levels. The program, called AgentCell, will soon be available, open sourced under a BSD license. “With AgentCell we can simulate the behavior of entire populations of cells as they sense their environment, respond to stimuli and move in a three-dimensional world”. The researchers have designed their digital bacterial system in modules, so that additional components may be added later - “The hope is that people will modify the code or add some new capabilities”. AgentCell has possible applications in cancer research, drug development and combating bioterrorism. Lots of movies and pictures are available, along with a detailed press release describing the program.”

You might want to check out my own project “Droids API“, which was actually called Bacteria API in the beginning, but I changed it to Droids to sound less like a vira

* Bytefarmers Droids API

* Slashdot | Open source Digital Bacteria

/. “When methane was found in the Martian atmosphere last year, some scientists thought this was indirect evidence of methane-producing bacteria. But minerals such as olivine can create methane in a process known as serpentinization. Geologists calculated that a global, 50-centimetre-thick layer of olivine could account for the methane. One geologist said, ‘I’d love to see bugs, but you can’t just go on hope. You have to consider the geological options.’ Other scientists are unsure whether methane on Mars even exists.”

* Slashdot | Martian Methane May Come From Rocks

I have never been on a diet (because I’m rather skinny) but people are going crazy these days, the absolute worst being the Atkins’ Diet, because it is so popular, manipulating, scheming and all about money.
I am not going too deep into this, but you can trust me when I say it’s a huge fraud to make money, not to help you loose weight.
Perhaps it’s more obvious when your’e not even contemplating going on the diet, because there certainly is great potential for bringing out false hope in people.
My tip to anyone who wants to loose weight is to seek a Dietist and get proper help with planning a healthy food and exercise plan, don’t give up hope, and be realistic in your goals, that will bring you way beyond some commercial money hungry pop diet..

p.s. I just watched a television ‘documentary’ about Atkins’ Diet and it was obviously paid and produced by and for the Atkins’ Organization.

(Since I sincerly fear getting sued by the Atkins’ Organization, I tried to hold back on my true opinion of The Atkins’ Diet, but let’s just say I would put them in the same category as Scientology.)

BBC NEWS: “South Korean scientists say they have made stem cells tailored to match the individual for the first time.

“Cloning for research purposes is profoundly unethical”

Julia Millington of the ProLife Alliance

Each of the 11 new stem cell lines that they made were created by taking genetic material from the patient and putting it into a donated egg.

But the researchers told Science that there were still hurdles to overcome. ”

Full story:
BBC NEWS | Health | Stem cells tailored to patients
Wired News | Stem Cells Made to Order