data deluge

As I may have mentioned before, advances in genome sequencing are moving faster than those in computing (still following Moore's law, i.e. doubling capacity every 18 months or so). In the long term, of course, this means that scientists are going to produce more data than they can store or handle. Similar problems also arise in other fields e.g. neuroscience.

I've written a feature on the data deluge and how biologists are hoping to cope with it for Current Biology, which is out today:

Riding the wave of biological data
Current Biology, Volume 21, Issue 6, R204-R206, 22 March 2011
doi:10.1016/j.cub.2011.03.009

summary and FREE access to PDF file



One of the sources of the data flood: second generation genome sequencing machines at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, Oxford.