Cray XK6 Supercomputer Used To Simulate Ice Cream 55
An anonymous reader writes "The processing power available inside modern supercomputers isn't just able to help us better understand the universe we live in, develop better medicines, and model complex systems. Apparently it is also helping to make better ice cream. Research has been carried out at the University of Edinburgh to simulate the soft matter that makes up ice cream. More specifically, scientists are trying to understand the complex interactions occurring between the many different ingredients that make up your favorite flavor of the delicious cold stuff."
The ice cream will melt before simulation runs.... (Score:5, Funny)
How are you supposed to simulate something when the simulation generates so much heat that the simulated object can never exist long enough to run the simulation ?
Re:The ice cream will melt before simulation runs. (Score:5, Funny)
How are you supposed to simulate something when the simulation generates so much heat that the simulated object can never exist long enough to run the simulation ?
Don't worry, they simulated the freezer first.
Re:The ice cream will melt before simulation runs. (Score:4, Funny)
Hopfully they find a way to create instant icecream
1/2 instant cold pack, 1/2 dehydratated icecream
Re:The ice cream will melt before simulation runs. (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
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They'll probably set up the experiment on Mars
I thought that would be for the flavour? If that would be the case, I certainly hope they won't do it on Uranus as well...
Android (Score:4, Funny)
You need a supercomputer to simulate Android 4.0 ?
What will it take to simulate Jelly Bean
BTW my tablet runs Honeycomb 3.2.1 OK.
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You need a supercomputer to simulate Android 4.0 ?
No, you need a supercomputer to simulate 1/3 of Android 4.0
You'd probably need a beowulf cluster of them to simulate the entire sandwich
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Joking aside, you'd be surprised how poorly it's simulated for developers. Even using a VM solution instead of the official "virtual device" solution, it's horrendously slow on hardware that should have no trouble at all simulating it.
So, basically, the Ice Cream simulation runs at a glacial pace?
Cray XK6 Supercomputer running Ice Cream Sandwich (Score:2)
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The processing power available inside modern supercomputers isn't just able to help us better understand the universe we live in... Apparently it is also helping to make better ice cream
First of all, there's no actual contradiction here, so the summary's not wrong - only, on first glance, a little redundant. Secondly, the supercomputer could help to make better ice cream without helping us better understand the process/the Universe (by giving us an optimal recipe without explaining why), so I would argue that there isn't even, strictly speaking, a tautology.
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If we can't simulate ice-cream at the cone-size level, then how could we ever get it right when we create ice-cream planets for our fully immersive hedonistic virtual reality future?
I'd rather have (Score:1)
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I'd rather have a Cray XK6 made out of ice cream. On an equally frivolous note did the Cray run Ice cream Sandwich [android.com] ?
And if they go to the App Store, are they told that they are not running a telephone?
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I'd rather have a Cray XK6 made out of ice cream. On an equally frivolous note did the Cray run Ice cream Sandwich [android.com] ?
I'd rather have a Cray XK6 simulate a Fukashima reactor meltdown while I have real ice cream melt in my hand, than vice verse. Seriously, the myopic mindset that thinks this shit up using taxpayer money rather than political shareholders assets goes to show how far chaos theory will iterate before some level headed voters put a stop, once and for all, to this bullshit.
1536 cores (Score:4, Funny)
weird inference (Score:3)
It's not clear to me why this research will improve ice cream's shelf life. Is shelf life limited by our understanding of the relevant physics?
Of course, I doubt that's why they're actually doing this, but it won't necessarily improve the practical side of making ice cream at all. That has been studied extensively an an empirical fashion, and we have pretty good information on how different methods and ingredients turn out. What's less clear is the reason for it, i.e. the physics behind some of the processes. That's good to learn to advance physics, but may or may not lead to practical improvements. And those practical improvements may or may not have anything to do with shelf life...
Re:weird inference (Score:5, Informative)
I'm sure the physics will be interesting, but it is much more fun to study ice cream making empirically. I've had the best luck by simplifying as much as possible. That and a teaspoon of vodka per quart of ice cream keeps it soft and scoopable no matter how long it stays in the freezer.
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Quality information like this is why I still come to Slashdot. That is a suggestion I will have to try. To better understand the physics, of course.
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I'm sure the physics will be interesting, but it is much more fun to study ice cream making empirically.
You are obviously not a physicist or mathematician. To paraphrase Feynman, studying the physics of ice cream allows you to see the beauty of how it is constructed in addition to enjoying the obvious properties of it. Empirical studies in this case are as intellectually stimulating as watching cars driving fast and turning left.
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Wow, you have such insight. You should use your vast physics knowledge to build a time machine and go back in time to tell Ben and Jerry that making experimental ice cream for fun is a useless endeavor.
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There's a lot going in when making ice cream. For example, inclusions in the ice cream (like nuts or chocolate chips, etc...) can change certain properties of the surrounding mix, salts from nuts can lower its freezing point causing heat shock around the inclusions, acids from fruits can curdle the mix, some inclusions can leech into the ice cream, changing the flavor in ways not expected. An improper mix of emulsifiers and stabilizers can mean the ice cream can separate, even when frozen. An improper wa
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While ice cream makers have probably done lots of experimentation, simulations like this (in addition to being cool physics for other reasons) can give us new directions to look in - e.g how should we change the emulsifier used. More fundamentally, what are the controlling factors for the failure of ice cream? Since TFA is a press release, you can get a better taste for the work the Edinburgh group does from their papers - a related one is at http://arxiv.org/abs/1203.0410 [arxiv.org]
I should also pitch this group's
With great power comes... (Score:5, Funny)
...great Ice Cream!
Scientists do indeed have great imagination.
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The Cat in the hat in the box.
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I'm looking forward (Score:2)
to know the high impact this study will have on the whole World!
It's nice to have all those resources focused on making our world a better world!
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Hopefully, once they master ice cream physics, they can refocus their efforts on understanding frogurt.
They are (Score:2)
They are asking HOW does it blend?
Depending on how they keep their processor cool... (Score:3)
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Liquid nitrogen ice cream is awesome....
However, the XK6 chillers are a lot more boring. We take room air from under the floor, run it through a cold plate, blow it through the cabinet across 12 Opterons or 6 GPU's vertically, and then go through another cold plate and exhaust it at (approximately) the same temperature it came in it.
What do they boot this supercomputer from? (Score:2)
I've got to wonder what they boot this supercomputer from. Because if it's optical media, then that means that somewhere there's an xk6cd. And that's got to be just a little confusing for the geeks who get to work on it.
I thought this was another 3D-printer article (Score:2)
Sorry, I'm not eating grey goo nanotech ice cream.
Where's the screaming? (Score:2)
Simulated Ice Cream would go great with... (Score:2)
... Professor Frink's Virtual Chili! [blogspot.com]
Brain freeze ... (Score:2)
The next thing they simulated. (Score:2)
After the ice cream, the supercomputer then produced a cupful of liquid that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea.
OS? (Score:2)
The article doesn't say what OS the computer is running, but it has to be Linux -- presumably a distro that uses Yum.