The ChemConnector Blog by Antony Williams

An interesting article regarding the world’s fastest computer was in C&E News today when it hit my desktop. At a time where there is so much focus on High Performance Computing it was interesting to read about the RoadRunner system delivered by IBM to the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Quoting Wikipedia “Roadrunner differs from many contemporary supercomputers in that it is a hybrid system, using two different processor architectures for the heavy lifting. Usually supercomputers only use one, since it would be easier to design and program for. To tap the full potential of Roadrunner, all software will have to be written specially for this hybrid architecture which is uniquely complex. The hybrid design consists of dual-core Opteron server processors manufactured by AMD utilizing the standard x86 architecture. Attached to each Opteron core is a Cell processor manufactured by IBM using Power Architecture technology. ”

I have blogged previously about Cell Processors being applied for Virtual Screening/Docking (1,2) and have been helping SimBioSys in their marketing and business development of their eHITS Lightning software as discussed here.

With the fastest computer in the world using the Cell processor as part of its architecture, and with the processor now proving itself for docking, the question is whether we will see this processor become even more mainstream in the foreseeable future. It’s NOT easy to port…but it can be done.

Following on from my recent posting about the Autoimmune Epidemic comes a report that new shower curtains can be bad for our health.

Now, while it’s true that chemistry causes emotional responses in the public when such reports are released what is interesting to read is that the work was done by the Virginia-based Center for Health, Environment & Justice and “The Center for Health, Environment & Justice sent a letter to 19 major retailers Thursday informing them of the new report and encouraging them to stop selling PVC products.”

I’m excited to speak next week at a “by invitation only” symposium at one of the top Fortune 500 Companies. The focus of the gathering for the 350 attendees will be “Networks” and I will be speaking about  “Crowd-sourcing to Build A Structure-centric Community for Chemists”. I will of course talk about ChemSpider but also about my experiences with Wikipedia Chemistry and other general and scientific networks I have become involved with over the years. I will be speaking alongside invited speakers from organizations such as Yahoo, MIT, General Electric, Brookhaven, Harvard University etc so I am quite humbled not only by the invitation  but also by the chance to network (appropriate for a gathering about “networks”) with such a diverse group of people. I’m not sure what the situation is regarding releasing the presentation publicly after the gathering but will do so following discussions with the organizers. I’m sure it will be acceptable.

I seem to be surrounded by people who have developed “autoimmune diseases” (ID) over the past few years. These are commonly people around the age of 40 and are therefore my peer group. It is hard to watch my friends. and over the past few years, members of my immediate family, be severely debilitated by some form of ID whether it’s gastrointestinal in nature, thyroid function or some form of multiple chemical sensitivity.

A close personal friend of mine recently gifted me with a copy of a book called “The Autoimmune Epidemic: Bodies Gone Haywire in a World Out of Balance–and the Cutting-Edge Science that Promises Hope” and I am close to finishing it. I think the title speaks for itself. With an increasing number of “westerners” being diagnosed with autoimmune diseases, and numbers far exceeding thos with cancer, the book makes for interesting, and I would say for me personally, quite shocking reading. As a father of young children I am concerned now for what they will encounter as challenges to their bodies moving forward. A recommended read for everyone…not just scientists.