Simulating molecular motions provides researchers with information critical to designing vaccines and working on preventing diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. But, until recently, researchers needed supercomputers or clusters to run molecular simulations.

Recently, we've covered several examples of open source software tools aimed at humanitarian and global healthcare efforts. Even in niche categories, such as earthquake research, open source software is surprisingly widely used.

An international team of researchers is using a wireless Open Source virtual world to help promote language learning and let students practice.

Jim Myers, associate director for Cyberenvironments at NCSA, says open source is important because of the heavy customization needed to connect the component requirements of different researchers. Cyberenvironments integrates distributed computing and data resources to provide new scientific processes and greater productivity for researchers in disparate locations.

Using open source tools for developing grid applications opens up a wealth of possibilities. The first is a very rapid development process, especially if you take advantage of script languages like Perl or Python and deployment environments like Apache. There is also a wealth of examples available that can help you.

The results of a study conducted by researchers from Duke University, Penn State University, and Intel Labs have revealed that a significant number of popular Android applications transmit private user data to advertising networks without explicitly asking or informing the user.

Researchers from across Europe are being trained in Genoa, Italy, this month in advance of taking possession of their very own iCub: a robot designed to have the physical and sensory capabilities of a two-and-a-half year old child.

A German scientific research institute is using an open-source database running on Linux and x86 hardware to store global seismic activity data and to interpret that data. The purpose is to ensure that countries around the world are in compliance with the terms of the nuclear test ban treaty.

A German scientific research institute is using an open-source database running on Linux and x86 hardware to store global seismic activity data and to interpret that data. The purpose is to ensure that countries around the world are in compliance with the terms of the nuclear test ban treaty.