Author's entries

From conception to birth, death and beyond, the human body is all about change. Thus, a key issue in modelling any aspect of the body is to move beyond static images of what any element looks like at any particular point, and factor in the fourth dimension of time.

How do you get a Silicon Valley - or three of them - in Europe? And what can policy makers do to help? These were the themes of an innovative round of discussions that took place earlier this year.

One of Europe's leading pioneers in the field of medical image analysis has been awarded the €250,000 Royal Society and Académie des sciences Microsoft award to apply computational techniques to build composite three-dimensional images of hearts, brains and other organs from the 2D slices obtained with MRI and PET.

Visit Alton Towers, the United Kingdom's biggest theme park, and you are offered a wristband. Wear it, and as you scream your way from Nemesis to Oblivion you activate an all-seeing network of video cameras that are supposed to capture your best Alton Towers moments - instant ‘golden memories' - as they happen. A ‘Your Day' video is burnt onto DVD by the time you're ready to leave. This is a modest and...

Handheld computers for issuing tickets, reading meters, recording environmental data or taking orders are commonplace. Now attention has shifted to adapting computers so that rather than being held and operated by hand they can be worn on users' bodies, or integrated into their clothing.

Cluster Stew: the European Commission is formulating an all-embracing strategy on cluster development to boost innovation and maximise returns from structural funds and related budgets. But what is the right policy recipe for a perfectly formed cluster?

In 1997, Microsoft opened its first big European lab – and it placed it in what was then Europe's only serious answer to Silicon Valley: Cambridge, in the United Kingdom.

Is the essence of a cluster physical proximity or, given broadband Internet and associated communications platforms, is it possible to create virtual clusters ?

 The rapid pace of industrialisation in India, China and elsewhere is pushing up the price of every commodity, from oil and copper, to wheat and water. But one resource – computer processing power – is abundant and falling in price. 

The free lunch is over For the past 20 years the computer industry has grown on the back of ever-increasing clock rates. In line with Moore's law, coined by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, advances in chip design have allowed performance to double every 18 months or so.

You can't capture the thrill and excitement of a football match by describing the individual players. Similarly, it is not possible to understand biological processes and pathways by looking just at the component parts.