Computer simulation

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A computer simulation, a computer model or a computational model is a computer program, or network of computers, that attempts to simulate an abstract model of a particular system. Computer simulations have become a useful part of mathematical modeling of many natural systems in physics (computational physics), chemistry and biology, human systems in economics, psychology, and social science and in the process of engineering new technology, to gain insight into the operation of those systems, or to observe their behavior.

Computer simulations vary from computer programs that run a few minutes, to network-based groups of computers running for hours, to ongoing simulations that run for days. The scale of events being simulated by computer simulations has far exceeded anything possible (or perhaps even imaginable) using the traditional paper-and-pencil mathematical modeling: over 10 years ago, a desert-battle simulation, of one force invading another, involved the modeling of 66,239 tanks, trucks and other vehicles on simulated terrain around Kuwait, using multiple supercomputers in the DoD High Performance Computer Modernization Program; a 1-billion-atom model of material deformation (2002); a 2.64-million-atom model of the complex maker of protein in all organisms, a ribosome, in 2005; and the Blue Brain project at EPFL (Switzerland), began in May 2005, to create the first computer simulation of the entire human brain, right down to the molecular level.

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News tagged with computer model

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sky, sun

Scientists: No link cloud coverage and global warming

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created May 11, 2009 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (89) | comments 35

With the U.S. Congress beginning to consider regulations on greenhouse gases, a troubling hypothesis about how the sun may impact global warming is finally laid to rest.


Ice-free Arctic Ocean possible in 30 years, not 90 as previously estimated

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Apr 02, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (62) | comments 20

(PhysOrg.com) -- A nearly ice-free Arctic Ocean in the summer may happen three times sooner than scientists have estimated. New research says the Arctic might lose most of its ice cover in summer in as few ...


The green Sahara, a desert in bloom

The green Sahara, a desert in bloom

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Sep 30, 2008 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (32) | comments 4

Reconstructing the climate of the past is an important tool for scientists to better understand and predict future climate changes that are the result of the present-day global warming. Although there is still ...


Milky Way Galaxy

Physicists on the prowl for dark matter

Physics / General Physics

created Jul 23, 2009 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (33) | comments 89

(PhysOrg.com) -- 95%. That is the percentage of the known Universe that is missing. As in it is not there. Or at least if it is there, we can't see it. We call this unseen stuff "dark matter". That has been ...


Too much entanglement can render quantum computers useless

Physics / Quantum Physics

created May 25, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (20) | comments 4

(PhysOrg.com) -- "For certain tasks, quantum computers are more powerful than their classical counterparts. The task to be performed is the same for quantum or classical systems. However, the former ones can do it in a more ...


Earth and the Sun

Study: Small fluctuations in solar activity, large influence on the climate

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Aug 27, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (15) | comments 9

(PhysOrg.com) -- Subtle connections between the 11-year solar cycle, the stratosphere, and the tropical Pacific Ocean work in sync to generate periodic weather patterns that affect much of the globe, according ...


Toddlers develop individualized rules for grammar

Other Sciences / Other

created Oct 05, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (12) | comments 3

(PhysOrg.com) -- Using advanced computer modeling and statistical analysis, a University of Texas at Austin linguistics professor has found that toddlers develop their own individual structures for using language that are ...


Google Earth Application Maps Carbon's Course

Google Earth Application Maps Carbon's Course

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Sep 21, 2009 | popularity 2.9 / 5 (16) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words, particularly when the picture is used to illustrate science. Technology is giving us better pictures every day, and one of them is helping ...


Explaining the Mystery of the Voyager

Physics / General Physics

created Feb 27, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (10) | comments 2

With a new 3D-model for energy simulation scientists from Bochum, Germany, and Huntsville, USA, are studying the 'physical mystery' of the Voyager. Over 30 years ago the spacecraft detected particles in solar wind which were ...


MIT solves longstanding volcanic mystery

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jun 08, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (10) | comments 0

For decades, geologists have been puzzled by the mechanisms that give rise to the kind of volcanoes that form the so-called “ring of fire” around the Pacific Ocean. These arc volcanoes, which account for about 10 to 25 percent ...


Pillars of Creation formed in the shadows

Pillars of Creation formed in the shadows

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Apr 23, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (9) | comments 0

Research by astronomers at the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies suggests that shadows hold the key to how giant star-forming structures like the famous "Pillars of Creation" take shape.


World's largest laser completed

World's largest laser completed

Physics / General Physics

created Apr 01, 2009 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (10) | comments 13

(PhysOrg.com) -- The Department of Energy today announced that the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has certified the completion of the historic effort to build the world's largest laser.


Cryptomartus hindi

Scary ancient spiders revealed in 3-D models, thanks to new imaging technique (w/ Video)

Biology / Other

created Aug 05, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (8) | comments 0

Early relatives of spiders that lived around 300 million years ago are revealed in new three-dimensional models, in research published today in the journal Biology Letters.


Mystery of bat with an extraordinary nose solved

Mystery of bat with an extraordinary nose solved

Physics / General Physics

created Jul 07, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (8) | comments 6

A research paper co-written by a Virginia Tech faculty member explains a 60-year mystery behind a rare bat's nose that is unusually large for its species. The findings soon will be published in the scientific ...


Locust, Schistocerca obscura

Secrets of insect flight revealed

Technology / Engineering

created Sep 17, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (8) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers are one step closer to creating a micro-aircraft that flies with the manoeuvrability and energy efficiency of an insect after decoding the aerodynamic secrets of insect flight.