Buried in troves of data that scientists have gathered, but not yet analyzed, could be key insights to improving cancer treatment, understanding Alzheimer’s, predicting climate change effects and developing cheaper, clean energy technologies. Those are just a few of the countless examples of fields where our capacity to gather scientific data now far exceeds our capacity to crunch it—especially when collaborations span the globe. Some research projects are producing the equivalent of 1,000 consumer hard drives a month, for example.
