Historically, mathematical physicists have believed turbulent movements were random and unstructured. As a result, they were unable to explain why Jupiter's Red Spot, a famous example of a long-lived turbulent vortex, has been around since Galileo's time. This sequence shows how planetary turbulence changes from random and disoriented to a coherent, organized structure. Seismic modeling can lead to safer, more efficient and economical structures in areas like Southern California, where the Los Angeles basin's size and dense population pose complex problems for computational scientists. Click on the image to download an MPEG animation of a simulated earthquake in the San Fernando valley.
Color depicts the peak magnitude of ground displacement.
The simulation covered a 54 x 33 kilometer area, superimposed here on a satellite view of topography, to a depth of 15 km. Los Angeles can be seen in the southeast corner. Supercomputers like the TCS are allowing 3-D analysis of heart functions, many of which cannot be studied with conventional studies of human or animal subjects. Researchers working at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center have developed a fully functioning computational model of the heart, its valves and nearby major vessels. Faster computers lead to more-detailed simulations, with a tighter connection to how a real heart functions.