What are Supercomputers Used for?
Biology
Supercomputers can be used to model or render the working of the nervous system or brain of an organism. In 2006, the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne of Switzerland used a supercomputer to render a part of a rat’s brain, to understand how neurons transmit and generate messages in this type of organism. This is not the complete brain, the computer was only capable of demonstrating the working of a small area. Nevertheless it was a breakthrough.
In 2009, a joint venture by IBM and Stanford University modeled the cortex of a cat using the Blue Gene/IP supercomputer. They have simulated 1% of a human brain’s functioning in the same year. Within the next 10 years, a complete rendering and simulation of how the human brain works will be shown by a supercomputer. Why model a brain? To understand how it works, how messages are transmitted, how are memories stored etc. Psychologists will be able to study why some mental conditions occur and which part of the brain is affected. The human brain is the most used part of the body but very little is known about it and bridging this gap, is a key job of supercomputers.
Space
The final frontier and perhaps the last remaining region which remains semi-unexplored by man. Supercomputers are used to:
- Modeling the path and behavior of various celestial objects and bodies in space.
- Rendering the Sun, its functioning and its impact on the Earth.
- Supercomputers can help simulate supernova explosions, that occur in deep space and are out of monitoring reach.
- Simulation of how the Universe was created, by recreating and rendering the Big Bang event as well as how stars, dark matter and other space entities are formed.
Climate
As unpredictable as weather”, is a common phrase but what if you could predict the weather? Or at least, identify warning signs and premature indicators? Supercomputers once again come to the rescue by rendering models and.
