IBM's Watson Supercomputer Expected to Speed Up Scientific Advancement

The IBM Watson supercomputer which was once a participant in the US game show, Jeopardy! is now being put to other uses that can benefit human kind.

Renamed the Watson Discovery Advisor, the supercomputer is being used to discover patterns in bits of data to help researchers trying to find solutions that are usually beyond the abilities of a single computer or even several networked together for greater processing power.

Recently the IBM Watson computer helped discover new target proteins for medical researchers to study, a process that took weeks which normally had taken years just to make the initial selection before.

The ability to process data at an accelerated rate across the internet helps the Watson supercomputer to understand what are the underlying causes for results that are being observed. These ideas can then go from theories to fact when these ideas are tested thoroughly. Watson gives the first clues where to look for new advancements across many industries.

Scientific studies are updated to the Watson supercomputer as they are published rather than there being a lag time which reduces understanding. In this way, the computer can use correct analysis based on the latest scientific findings and provide useful and relevant responses in the process.

The Watson supercomputer even turned its data crunching into food recipes which were dutifully cooked up by staff and served out of the bright red IBM Watson food truck. The recipes included ribs spiced with fennel and cobbler for desert.

Over 27,000 documents can be digested by the IBM Watson computer daily. So far Watson has 40 million documents in its records. Companies are testing out their data and analysing in the way that “big data” was originally intended. Medical companies like Johnson and Johnson have opened their research records along with several other health companies who are sharing insights over the secure cloud from insights Watson achieves.

In the law profession, thousands of legal statutes and findings can be digested and searched to find precedents in law that help lawyers serve their clients better.

Chemical companies can use discovery technology to better appreciate how different chemical compounds are interacting at a molecular level. This in turn can help them discover new combinations that increase flexibility and strength for the materials they work with.

It certainly looks like the IBM Watson supercomputer was mothballed way too soon and now all this power is being put to incredible new uses.