New SuperComputer

[JayCub]

British scientists are hoping that a new £1.9m (€2.14m) supercomputer will help them unlock the secrets of the universe.

The Cosmology Machine Supercomputer at Durham University's Institute of Computational Cosmology (ICC) has a memory of 15.4 terabytes, the equivalent of 7,500 normal home PCs. It boasts a disc storage capacity of a petabyte, or a million gigabytes.

The new machine, known as Cosma 4, is to be unveiled tomorrow. It will allow scientists to build on the ground-breaking work already carried out at the institute, which specialises in developing computer simulations of the evolution of the universe, so researchers can gain an insight into why it behaves as it does.

The project echos a similar computer conceived of in Douglas Adams' famed sci-fi novel "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy", which sought the answer to "the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything".

Scientists at Durham University will be hoping for more detailed answers than "42" from the real-life machine, however.

"Among the theories the ICC will be testing is that of dark matter - a mysterious substance which scientists believe is required to explain galaxy motions that would otherwise violate the laws of physics," said a statement from the university.

"The researchers' simulations will also aid the investigation of the accelerated expansion of the universe which scientists believe is driven by a mysterious and poorly understood force - 'dark energy'.

"The ICC is a leading international centre for research into the origin and evolution of the universe, addressing some of the most fundamental questions in science, such as how did the universe begin and how did it evolve to its current state."

Institute director Professor Carlos Frenk said: "Durham and its research partners across the world are at the forefront of research into the composition and evolution of the universe.

"The technology available to us through Cosma 4 will ensure that we can continue to advance in our quest to figure out how the universe works.

"There is much to play for: the identity of the dark matter and the dark energy for starters, and thanks to these amazing technological advances, we hope to be able to shed light on some of the most fundamental unsolved questions in physics today

Source

[CoolD]

Thanks Jaycub for sharing the info....£1.9m (€2.14m) for supercomp if I had this amount of money I will buy supercar instead of supercomp

[idaho]

Not soo much, for soo powerfull computer, if you imagine, how much money is spending just my small country with 5 mil. people for useless things, we can have best comp in the world tommorow. Thanks JayCub for good post.

[Bearcat]

Thanks for the interesting read Jay. A super computer would be fun to use, but is just a little bit out of my price range! Somehow I suspect that for every secret of the universe they supposedly unlock, a new bunch will crop up.

@ idaho Don't feel alone, when it comes to wasteful spending. I think my country, the good old US of A has to take top honors in that category.

[JayCub]

Good points guys and like Idaho our population is around the 5 million mark so a small country with a massive dept, wastefull spending like Bears tax dollars.

Not sure i would bother with a fast car CoolID as i spent the best part of my working life on cars, and was careless on one or two ocassions but blessed with the outcome, but the stats for the supercomputer are truly amazing and the advancement in technology is breath taking these days.

[Ceyfer √]

British scientists are hoping that a new £1.9m (€2.14m) supercomputer will help them unlock the secrets of the universe.

Apart from it, Supercomputers are known to help weapons scientist in predicting the total damage of their weapons project even though it is still in drawing board. It will lessen the actual weapon testing, hence lessening the total cost, and had brought new limits in weapons capability.

Related news abroad:

Released a short while ago, the latest version of the TOP5000 supercomputer list has a new leader, a Japanese system that is powered by 68,544 Sparc-based processors from Fujitsu and that is capable of delivering a staggering 8 petaflops of computational power.

The so called K Computer is installed at the Riken Advanced Institute for Computational Science in Kobe, Japan, and dwarfs the 2.6 petaflops of the China's Tianhe-1A supercomputer which held the top spot in the previous TOP500 chart.

Currently, the Japanese scientist has now made a giant leap in supercomputing scene.

[A Guy]

...and [url=http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/the-best-fastest-computers-are-linux-computers/9121?tag=nl.e539]Linux rules

A Guy

[JayCub]

Thank you for the link A Guy a worthy read and a contrast at the same time...

[boyzee]

I live not that far from Durham University and i think its a bloody waste of money, seeing as this area of the UK is one of the most deprived.

[JayCub]

I live not that far from Durham University and i think its a bloody waste of money, seeing as this area of the UK is one of the most deprived.

This does put things alot more in perspective, and of course needs addressing more than a supercomputer.