Science software

The category ‘science software’ includes a number of applications designed for different purposes. Scientific software can be used to study about a particular topic, to store experimental findings and to analyse data through modelling functions. Specific software applications are available for topics ranging from astronomy and bioinformatics to physics and plotting. Specific laboratory software also exists such as BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool), which is used to compare sequences of amino acids, DNA sequences or protein strings against existing libraries of data to identify similarities.

‘Model ChemLab’ is an interactive application that allows experiments to be conducted from the users computer, saving costs and preventing potentially hazardous consequences of combining incompatible chemical substances. The program includes a real time simulation module, so that students can visualise the experiment. The designers say the software is ideal for distance learning, providing online demonstrations, pre-lab work or for conducting dangerous, lengthy or environmentally unfriendly experiments. For more information about the Model ChemLab package, visit modelscience.com.

Scientific software can be split into three main categories. Data management, display & analysis and visualisation & modelling. There are various packages capable of managing experiment data. Broadly these are database packages, spreadsheets, statistical programs and text editors. Database packages, also known as RDBMS (Relational Database Management Systems) are useful for storing large volumes of data in a hierarchical manner. They are also able to manipulate (select, sort or count) many records at once. They are not designed to perform any kind of numerical computations on the data. Spreadsheets are similar to databases in that they can store individual records of data within the individual rows and columns of the sheet. The advantage of spreadsheet packages is that they are able to easily perform basic computational analyses on the data, although specific statistical software is better suited to this task. Statistical packages such as SPSS are able to both store and analyse experimental data in an efficient way but may be arguably less easy for the user to utilise.

‘ROOT’ is an object orientated data analysis package, provided free of charge by CERN. It was originally developed by CERN to analyse particle physics data, so it contains many features that are specific to this field. However, the application is also widely utilised within the larger scientific community, particularly the areas of astronomy and for data mining purposes. For a list of the applications features, or for the free download visit http://root.cern.ch.

An example of a visualisation and modelling application is ‘DataDesk’ (datadesk.com). This package focuses upon data visualisation, exploration and interactive statistical modelling. Intuitive data investigation is achieved through the use of easy to use wizards and tutorials, which guide through the procedures necessary to effectively visualise the data. The software elicits patterns, exceptions and relationships within the data using advanced algorithms to automate this process. The package boasts that users do not need any statistical background to produce statistically valid visualisations from the data. By providing various different visualisations at one time, the user can select the most appropriate model for displaying the data in the most straightforward way possible. Additionally, changes to the dataset will automatically alter the visualisations, without the need to re-render the models.