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Today when you hear about global warming, the first thing that comes to mind is probably carbon dioxide; however, there are many greenhouse gases that may contribute to this phenomenon. Wolfram|Alpha now provides information on the relative global warming effects of about 30 common pollutants in the atmosphere using the global warming potential (GWP) index.

The GWP index estimates how much a certain chemical will add to global warming compared to the same mass of carbon dioxide over a certain time span. The data Wolfram|Alpha uses is from the 2007 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Let’s take a look at some of this data by asking Wolfram|Alpha about the “gwp of methane”. Here you are able to see three different time horizons for methane: 20 years, 100 years, and 500 years. These different time horizons allow you to see the short-term and long-term contributions that methane will make to global warming in the atmosphere. You may also notice that as the time horizon gets larger, the GWP actually decreases—which seems counterintuitive, but makes sense as soon as you see that methane has an atmospheric lifetime of about 12 years. This is a fairly short lifetime, so methane’s effect on global warming declines as the time horizon increases. A simple click on the “Show comparisons” button pulls up a comparison of methane’s GWP to those of other greenhouse gases. You can also adjust the time horizons to see how methane compares to other greenhouse gases in the short and long term.

GWP values can also be compared for multiple greenhouse gases. For example, an input of “gwp of methane and carbon tetrachloride” provides a comparison of the two gases. The first pod displays the time horizons of both chemicals so you are able to see that carbon tetrachloride contributes much more to global warming than does methane. Moving down to the next pod, it may become more obvious why carbon tetrachloride contributes more: it has an atmospheric lifetime of 26 years, more than twice as long as methane’s.

We are currently working to add a greater variety of climate change and global warming data to Wolfram|Alpha. We encourage you to submit feedback on this feature, as well as any suggestions or ideas you may have.

The inauguration of Chile's new president was a moving moment for the EU's new commissioner for humanitarian aid - in more ways than one.

It’s said that everything big happens in Texas! And on Sunday night, Wolfram|Alpha won big at the 13th Annual SXSW Web Interactive Awards in Austin, Texas. Our first win of the night was in the Technical Achievement category, which is awarded to “sites that are re-inventing and re-defining the technical parameters of our online experience”. We were pleasantly surprised to also receive the Best of Show award.

We are grateful for the support shown by our users and members of the technology community this past year, and we can’t wait to share all of the big things Wolfram|Alpha has in store!

With public healthcare systems under pressure from an ageing population, governments are increasingly looking to information technology to provide relief.

In my blog post last month, I wrote about Valentine’s Day in Wolfram|Alpha. Strangely, we received a number of comments indicating that the computational power of Wolfram|Alpha was not always sufficient to melt the hearts of some non-mathematically inclined sweethearts of the world. But not to fear; I have decided to persist undeterred in spite of that disappointing and surprising news, now that we’re on the verge of another holiday (and a more inherently mathematical one).

The holiday in question is Pi Day. As with a large number of other holidays, simply typing its name (in this case, “pi day”) into Wolfram|Alpha gives you basic calendrical information about it:

Now, because Wolfram|Alpha users are both intelligent and discriminating, all of you have I’m sure already noticed that when the digits in the date 3/14 (March 14 in the United States style for dates—a bit more about this later) are run together with a decimal place between, the result is 3.14. And that that decimal expansion is connected with a certain famous mathematical constant given by the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. And that little fact explains why Pi Day is celebrated on the 14th of each March.

So far so good. Now let’s do a little further exploration. You may note that while typing 3/14 directly into Wolfram|Alpha assumes by default that you were referring to the rational number “three-fourteenths” (which is indeed a reasonable assumption), clicking the handy “Use as a date instead” link gives you information about that date (for the current year).

As you can see and won’t be surprised to learn, Wolfram|Alpha is kind enough to inform you about the occurrence of Pi Day for this particular calendar date.

So that’s a little fun, but you’re probably asking what other explorations you can do here, especially since you might correctly guess that Wolfram|Alpha knows a little something about pi. Let’s start by just typing pi into Wolfram|Alpha (for those of you with the Wolfram|Alpha App, you can have fun just typing the character in directly). This gives the following result:

For starters, that’s quite a screenful (and I even truncated it in the screen shot above so that it wouldn’t take up the whole page). So it’s clear you can compute many things about pi in Wolfram|Alpha. In fact, even the large number of properties shown above only scratch the surface of Wolfram|Alpha’s computational universe for pi (if you’ll pardon my mixed metaphors). You can also compute the first hundred digits (or first thousand digits for that matter), symbolic forms for the (non-simple) continued fraction representation, get a list of some formulas for pi, find some background information about the transcendence of pi, learn a little about the person who proved the transcendence of pi, and so on and so forth. If you have the time and inclination, certainly feel free to explore further on your own.

After discovering a bit about Pi Day, discerning users might also wonder about other mathematics-related holidays. If you’re one of those people, your wonderings are well-founded since there is indeed at least one more—and it’s even based on pi as well. As a hint, consider the convergents of pi.

However, since Wolfram|Alpha doesn’t (yet) provide information on continued fraction convergents when asked (see MathWorld for more information about these), a further hint is in order. Note that in the output illustrated above, the (simple) continued fraction of pi is given as [3; 7, 15, ...]. What that notation means is that ? = 3+1/(7+1/(15+1/…)). Taking only the first two terms then gives the approximation 3+1/7. And typing that into Wolfram|Alpha gives this:

Since you now know enough to be dangerous (if you didn’t already), I won’t completely spoil the fun, but if you need another little hint, look at the bottom output pod and note that in Europe and other countries, the preferred date format is day/month instead of the United States month/day (which explains why Wolfram|Alpha is considerate enough when assuming something like 10/12 as a date to allow you to assume both day/month and month/day).

That basically wraps up what I wanted to say here, except for noting that are actually a few other “pi holidays” floating around. However, they are sufficiently obscure that even Wolfram|Alpha doesn’t bother telling you about them (at least not yet). But you can of course still compute them if you like. For example, you would be correct if you wondered whether “new year’s eve + 314 days” is sometimes considered to be a pi day worthy of note. In closing, let’s just be grateful that no one has yet proposed celebration of “Euler-Mascheroni Constant Day” or “Littlewood-Salem-Izumi Constant Day.”

Since Wolfram|Alpha’s launch in May 2009, one of its most talked-about features has been its ability to compute specific answers to questions about math, chemistry, economics, demographics, and much more. But as its knowledge base continues to grow, it’s also able to highlight interesting and useful connections between data sets, and to reveal information that you might not think to ask for on your own.

One of the coolest examples of this is our recently enhanced relocation calculator. For several months, we’ve been able to answer simple questions about the relative cost of living in various United States cities and metropolitan areas. If you told Wolfram|Alpha that you were relocating from Seattle to Miami with a salary of $35000, you’d get a comparison of the relative cost of groceries, housing, and other expenses in each city, plus an estimate of the salary required to maintain a comparable standard of living in your destination city. On its own, this is a useful little calculator—but it’s also something that dozens of other websites could do.

But because Wolfram|Alpha knows tons of other details about any given city, our relocation calculator can now do things that no other site can. In addition to salary and cost-of-living comparisons, you now get comparisons of each city’s population, median home sale prices, unemployment rates, crime rates, sales taxes, traffic congestion, and climate—a useful sampling of current and historical comparative data for anyone contemplating a move.

We’ll highlight similar enhancements as they are released. And as always, we welcome your suggestions for new data, or new ways of looking at existing data, in any domain covered by Wolfram|Alpha.

EU overhauls selection procedure for civil servants, shifting the focus from formal knowledge to actual knowhow.

We’ve been working diligently for several years to build a vast repository of genetic data into Wolfram|Alpha. At launch time, we had the entire human genome and all known human genes. Now, Wolfram|Alpha has genetic data for 11 different species, from humans and mice to fruit flies and worms. And we’re working hard to get more species in all the time.

These days we’re hearing more and more about how particular genes work, what their functions are, and what happens if a gene becomes mutated and stops functioning correctly. And with the personal genomics movement in full swing, we can even get portions of our own genomes sequenced, with a report detailing for us which gene variants we have and whether any put us at known high risk for diseases like breast cancer, diabetes, or Parkinson’s disease.

Well, Wolfram|Alpha makes it really easy to get in-depth information about a gene that interests you.

Take for example the gene SATB1, which recent studies have shown is an important factor in breast cancer growth. Wolfram|Alpha gives you a number of results about this gene. The first information is the standard and alternate names the gene goes by, which are important if you want to look it up in the literature:

After that, Wolfram|Alpha tells us that this gene is on chromosome 3, locus p23, on the minus strand, starting at around 18 megabases along the chromosome. There is then a snippet of the gene’s actual DNA sequence, and we learn that the gene is about 90 kilobases (90,000 base pairs) long, with a picture showing which other genes are close by on the chromosome (in this case, PP1P and KCNH8):

Clicking “More” a few times in the “Nearby genes” pod lets us zoom out to see more of the gene’s surrounding environment on the chromosome:

In case we’re curious about the region just downstream from this gene, we can find out about it immediately with a query like this:

But the whole point of a gene is to carry the information needed to create a protein. First the gene’s DNA is transcribed into messenger RNA (mRNA). At this step, much of the gene’s original DNA is left behind. The sections that are kept for the mRNA are called “exons”, and the sections that are left behind are called “introns”.  There are also sections at the beginning and end of the gene, called untranslated regions (UTRs), that are not included in the mRNA.

The “Gene splicing structures” pod shows the various patterns of introns and exons in the gene’s DNA sequence:

The mRNA is then translated into the final protein sequence. The name of the resulting protein and the protein’s molecular weight are also given:

Although the vast majority of our DNA is identical from person to person, every gene contains a small number of point mutations, called SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms), where the sequence tends to be different between people.  Often, a disease can be linked to the presence of just a single one of these SNPs. Wolfram|Alpha shows us where the SNPs are on the gene, and what fraction of the people tested had the alternative nucleotide base in their DNA:

And if we’re curious about any of these SNPs, we can easily get some further details:

Wolfram|Alpha also tells us what the gene’s job in the cell is, by giving us its typical functions, the locations the protein is found in, and the cell processes it plays a role in. In this case, we learn that SATB1 is a DNA-binding protein that acts as a transcription factor in the cell nucleus, which means it regulates the expression of other genes:

But how does this gene differ in other species, like the mouse? When the same gene is found in another species, it’s called a “homolog”. Wolfram|Alpha shows us how SATB1’s protein sequence differs between species:

In this case the start of the protein is highly conserved among species, with just a few small differences at the end. This tells us that evolution has made very few changes to the gene over millions of years. Compare this to the homologs for the gene BRCA1, which also plays an important role in breast cancer, where there are far more protein differences between species:

Notice that when we first asked for SATB1, Wolfram|Alpha offered a choice of species homologs:

So instead of the human gene, we could have just as well asked for the rat gene SATB1 instead:

We can also get a comparison between the two:

Currently, Wolfram|Alpha has genetic information for 11 different species: human (Homo sapiens), mouse (Mus musculus), rat (Rattus norvegicus), fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster), roundworm (Caenorhabditis elegans), yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana), cow (Bos taurus), zebrafish (Danio rerio), chicken (Gallus gallus), and dog (Canis lupus familiaris).

Here are some example queries:

• human gene HIF1A
• human gene MDM2 homologs
• fly gene cyce
• drosophila gene rho
• mouse trp53
• tnf gene rattus norvegicus
• r norvegicus gene drd1a
• zebrafish gene lcp1
• cmyb d rerio
• yeast CDC28
• cow gene NOS3
• arabidopsis HY5
• g gallus vcl
• dog gene KIT

So Wolfram|Alpha can be a useful tool for anyone wanting to learn about genetics. Whether you’re a researcher doing a comparative genomics study, or just someone who’s fascinated about a gene and what it does, Wolfram|Alpha is a great place to start.

Conference showcasing EU-funded projects to improve lives of Roma.

Conference showcasing EU-funded projects to improve lives of Roma.

EU to highlight sites that celebrate and symbolise European integration, ideals and history

Empowering women in the developing world is crucial for greater equality between the sexes.

With the 2010 Academy Awards coming up this Sunday, we’re happy to announce that Wolfram|Alpha is now able to answer questions about every Oscar nomination and award since the first ceremony in 1929. You might be surprised by some of the things you see in the earliest lists: yes, acting awards were bestowed for multiple performances in a given year; the Academy made a distinction between movies that were merely “unique and artistic” and those that were truly “outstanding”; and like the current Golden Globes (we’ll tackle them soon), separate awards were given for dramatic and comedic films.

You can dive into this data in practically any way you want. Curious about a particular film? Try “Academy Award nominations for Forrest Gump“. Or maybe you’re curious about the past performance of a perennial front-row Oscar celebrity?

Ask about a specific award, like “best actor oscars“, and you’ll get a historical list of all winners for that category. But ask about “best actor in 2004“, and Wolfram|Alpha will serve up a detailed cross-section of data relevant to that award—the winner, other nominees, and other Oscar nominations and awards for both the winner and the film he appeared in.

You may also notice that now when you simply ask Wolfram|Alpha about a person (”Matt Damon“) or a film (”Citizen Kane“), Wolfram|Alpha will also show Academy Award wins for that person or picture—and because we have basic biographical information about many Oscar winners, Wolfram|Alpha can compute how old each award winner or nominee was in a given year.

There are dozens of sources for Academy Awards information online, but we think Wolfram|Alpha provides the easiest, most direct way to find information about the Oscars. Let us know if you compute any surprising facts about your favorite actor, actress, screenwriter, or director (or costume designer, sound editor, or black-and-white cinematographer, and more)!

Commission steps up efforts to reduce pay gap.

43 gas and electricity projects to split €2.3bn, the most the EU has ever spent on energy infrastructure in a single package.

Catch Conrad Wolfram, Wolfram Research’s Director of Strategic Development, this Friday, March 5, from noon–1pm CET, live from CeBIT in Hannover, Germany. Conrad is participating in the “Webciety—Connecting Work & Life” panel discussion with featured guests Anand Agarawala (bumptop.com), Peter Berger (Suite101.com), Kevin Eyres (LinkedIn), and Ralf Gerbershagen (Motorola GmbH). The panel will discuss the impact that Web 2.0 and social networks have had on everyday life.

If you’re unable to attend CeBIT, the digital industry’s largest trade show, you can watch the live broadcast of the panel discussion.

Commission sets out a 10-year strategy for reviving the European economy, casting a vision of ‘smart, sustainable, inclusive' growth rooted in greater coordination of national and European policy.

Saturday’s massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake in Chile has captured the attention and concern of the world community. The area continues to be plagued by dozens of smaller quakes including at least nine of magnitude 6.0 or higher.

Below is a timeline of earthquake activity in Chile over the last 72 hours. Wolfram|Alpha’s earthquake data is updated every six minutes with information reported by the United States Geological Survey (USGS). The USGS reports activity within 30 minutes of most seismic events worldwide.

In addition to the map and timeline, the output shows the top three earthquakes (ranked in decreasing order of magnitude) within the past 72 hours, and clicking the “More” button will pull up information on the lower-magnitude shocks. Furthermore, you can see exact coordinates by clicking the “Show coordinates” button.

If you’re monitoring quake activity in Chile or other parts of the world, you will find Wolfram|Alpha useful for exploring a single event or series of events by time, location, and magnitude.

(The image below reflects activity within the 72 hours before this post was written; click the image for current information and further exploration.)

We’ve added a new feature that will come in handy for adding information from Wolfram|Alpha into your next blog post or presentation: you can now easily save results pods from Wolfram|Alpha as GIF images.

Here’s a quick walk-through to get you started. First, enter a query into Wolfram|Alpha, such as “1 cup of oatmeal + ½ cup of milk + 1 tsp of sugar“. You can then save results by right-clicking on the pod you want, then clicking on the “Generate image of output” icon that appears in the lower right corner of the popup pod.

Below is an example of a resulting image:

This functionality also allows you to capture any adjustments made to results pages through the use of available options. For example, if you click on the “Show mesh” button when exploring a map of Canada in Wolfram|Alpha, this setting will be preserved when an image of the output is generated.

We hope that you will find this feature valuable the next time you’re preparing a visual presentation, or want to save a particularly interesting result. Are there other kinds of user features would you like to see incorporated into Wolfram|Alpha? Let us know!

Also, if you are interested in testing new features before they go live, apply to be a preview tester.

EU launches first e-Skills week