Harnessing the Power of Big Data in Biological Research

From the dawn of civilization to 2003, humankind generated five exabytes [5 billion gigabytes] of data. Now we produce five exabytes every two days ... and the pace is accelerating. —Eric Schmidt, executive chairman at Google, quoted in R. Smolan and J. Erwitt, eds. 2012. The Human Face of Big Data. Against All Odds Productions. A data revolution is changing the face of science. Scientists are confronting research challenges that require the analysis of large amounts of information on topics ranging from global climate patterns to genetic blueprints. These big data challenges are often summarized in four words: volume, variety, velocity, and veracity. Managing these four parameters could unlock revolutionary new applications, tap the potential of crowdsourcing, and produce a new way of doing science. Scientists struggle to capture, curate, share, analyze, and visualize continuously generated data. In March 2012, the White House announced the Big Data Research and Development Initiative, committing more than $200 million to accelerate scientific discovery, strengthen national security, and transform education. Six federal departments and agencies are participating in the initiative. In addition, the Obama administration released the Open Data Policy, promising to make information generated by the federal government—including health care data (e.g., the Health Data Initiative)—more accessible to innovators, researchers, and the public. Genetic research ...
Source: Washington Watch - Category: Biology Authors: Source Type: news