The End of Theory

The Data Deluge Makes the Scientific Method Obsolete:

Interesting article about how computing is changing science. Example:

"Enabled by high-speed sequencers and supercomputers that statistically analyze the data they produce, [J. Craig] Venter went from sequencing individual organisms to sequencing entire ecosystems. In 2003, he started sequencing much of the ocean, retracing the voyage of Captain Cook. And in 2005 he started sequencing the air. In the process, he discovered thousands of previously unknown species of bacteria and other life-forms."

"If the words 'discover a new species' call to mind Darwin and drawings of finches, you may be stuck in the old way of doing science. Venter can tell you almost nothing about the species he found. He doesn't know what they look like, how they live, or much of anything else about their morphology. He doesn't even have their entire genome. All he has is a statistical blip -- a unique sequence that, being unlike any other sequence in the database, must represent a new species." (wired.com)