BSC-CNS Newsletter May 2024

BSC-led study shows that women are more likely than men to be recommended drugs that may cause harmful interactions

More than 50 new deep-sea species in one of the most unexplored areas of the planet

Air quality in Europe shows significant improvements over the last two decades

A study led by the ISGlobal and BSC analysed pollution levels in more than 1,400 regions in 35 European countries, representing 543 million people. The results, published in Nature Communications, show that overall suspended particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels have decreased in most parts of Europe.. In contrast, O3 levels increased annually by 0.58% in southern Europe, leading to a nearly fourfold rise in unclean air days.

BSC contributes to the first European Climate Risk Assessment report

Three climate experts from BSC took part in the preparation of the first report published by the European Environment Agency to highlight Europe's climate risks. In the report, the agency warns that the European Union is not prepared for climate risks that are increasing faster than the containment and prevention policies to stop them, which are several steps behind. Specifically, experts highlight up to a total of 36 crucial climate risks, with serious human, economic and political consequences

New COVID-19 vaccines that are effective in preclinical models and feature an optimized production

BSC, IrsiCaixa, IRTA-CreSA and Grifols have pioneered the development of two promising vaccine candidates against COVID-19 built upon two mutated versions of the spike protein, also known as the S protein, derived from the SARS-CoV-2 virus, named S29 and V987H. These new variants increase the production of the immunogen up to five times compared to already marketed vaccines based on the same protein.

The CoEC project advances the demonstration of e-fuel performance using supercomputers

Utilizing cutting-edge supercomputing technologies, scientists are making remarkable advances in facilitating the deployment of sustainable fuels for the future. Their collaborative efforts, spearheaded by the Center of Excellence in Combustion (CoEC), coordinated by BSC, focus on using advanced modelling and simulation technologies to study the combustion of sustainable fuels and new combustion technologies.

BSC scientists contribute to the development of a European HPC workflow platform

Coordinated by BSC, the eFlows4HPC project has successfully delivered a comprehensive workflow platform and an additional set of services facilitating the seamless integration of HPC simulation and modelling with big data analytics and machine learning techniques. BSC researchers contributed to this project by defining complex workflows that resulted in enhanced workflow efficiency and increased overall development and deployment productivity.

Aina launches the first speech solution to support the different varieties of Catalan

The Aina artificial intelligence and language technologies project publishes the first voice synthesis model in the main dialect variants of Catalan, named Matxa. This is the first technological solution published as an open linguistic model that offers text-to-speech (TTS) interpretation in central, north-western, Balearic and Valencian Catalan. The Aina project, coordinated by BSC, is promoted and financed by the Generalitat de Catalunya.

Collaboration agreement between BSC and Nvidia to develop solutions integrating AI and supercomputing

BSC and Nvidia have reached a collaboration agreement to jointly develop innovative solutions over the next five years, merging supercomputing and Artificial Intelligence, optimizing and integrating public platforms and models. The new agreement foresee the development of Large Language Models (LLMs), applications for meteorology and climate change, adaptation of computational models, and software optimization processes.

Brazil and Europe sign innovative project with RISC-V technology for HPC

An international collaboration between BSC and Instituto ELDORADO will enable Brazil to develop open-source RISC-V technologies to accelerate research and development in the areas of semiconductors and supercomputing. Pushing the boundaries of HPC and AI is the main objective of an innovative project that marks the beginning of the journey towards developing a Matrix Multiplication Acceleration Unit, integrated into a RISC-V processor.

BSC and SimZero team up to advance industry 4.0 and smart cities with privacy-preserving, real-time scientific simulations

This partnership aims to redefine industry standards by enabling privacy-secure, intelligent, and efficient operations across various sectors. By integrating various technologies, the collaboration enhances predictive analytics, decision-making, and data privacy, setting a new benchmark for how industries and cities can leverage the full potential of digital advancements for a sustainable and resilient future.

'AI: Artificial Intelligence', the second most visited exhibition in the history of the CCCB

Since its opening last October, the exhibition "AI: Artificial Intelligence", co-produced by the CCCB and BSC, has attracted 114,468 visitors. Also noteworthy is the attendance of 20,064 people at the other activities linked to the exhibition. A success only surpassed by an exhibition on the film director Stanley Kubrick. The exhibition addresses the role of AI in everyday life, the opportunities it presents for scientific and biomedical research, the role of supercomputing as the main driver or the current legislative situation.

BSC's double proposal at the Tech&Play festival in Barcelona

BSC had a prominent presence at the new edition of Tech&Play, a festival that aims to bring the latest technological innovations to the public in a fun and educational way. Our centre offered the public attending the festival two different experiences to highlight the potential of supercomputing as the main driver of scientific and technological development today: an immersive reality experience and an analogue installation to show the potential of supercomputing at an event that brings the latest technological innovations to the public.

BSC scientist Nataša Pržulj appointed Fellow of the International Society for Computational Biology

BSC scientist Nataša Pržulj has been selected as an International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) Fellow in the Class of 2024. The ISCB Fellows program is a prestigious recognition within the field of computational biology, honoring individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the discipline. Pržulj, ICREA Research Professor in the Integrative Computational Network Biology group at BSC's Life Sciences Department, is a leader in biological network analysis and a pioneer in network biology geometry.

Mateo Valero, Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Murcia

The director of BSC, Mateo Valero, received an honorary doctorate from the University of Murcia (UMU).The investiture, approved by the UMU Senate on the proposal of the Faculty of Computer Science, aims to recognise the decisive influence of Valero as a world leader in research into computer architecture and the design of more efficient and powerful supercomputers. This is the eleventh 'honoris causa' awarded to the director of BSC.