Simulating climate change or a mouse brain: the future of supercomputing unites Catalonia and Japan

Kobe / KyotoWhat is the fastest way to evacuate a city in the face of a natural disaster? How will climate change impact our environment? How can we accelerate vaccine development in the midst of a pandemic? The answer to these questions lies in supercomputing and the new horizons opened up by simulations, which, through calculations, are made possible by the most powerful computers in the world. And Catalonia, with the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, aims to take a leap forward in these challenges with its Japanese counterpart, the Riken Center for Computational Science. The two institutions have been collaborating since 2022, but this Thursday they strengthened this alliance by signing a new collaboration agreement, taking advantage of the visit of the Catalan delegation led by the President of the Generalitat (Catalan Government), Salvador Illa, to the center of Kobe.

The memorandum was signed by BSC President Mateo Valero and will allow for the intensification of research exchanges between the two public institutions for at least another three years. The Japanese supercomputer Fugaku—the other name for Mount Fuji—has 432 cabins with 158,976 modules, and, as at Barcelona's MareNostrum, work is also beginning on quantum supercomputing to perform simulations with much greater power.

Preventing a DANA or a tsunami

One of Fugaku's most interesting lines of work for the BSC is how the Japanese use technology to respond to natural disasters (and, in particular, earthquakes and tsunamis, which are predicted with a line of sensors along the Japanese coast so as not to waste a single second on the first signs). In fact, Valero explained that the BSC has launched a collaboration program with the Military Emergency Unit (UME) to respond to similar catastrophes, such as DANA.

But how does a supercomputer operate to perform these analyses? Both the BSC computer, the MareNostrum, and the Fugaku work with what is called digital twins: These are models that allow scientific experimentation with real-life situations and scenarios, such as the human body or a city. Now that they are working on climate and mobility studies, the next big challenge for supercomputing is medicine. For now, the digital twin of a mouse brain, a step prior to that of a human, or studying the relationship between genes and cancer. Added to this is artificial intelligence, the latest major breakthrough in supercomputing: "With these machines, people can dream. With this computing power, they can check whether any idea they have is correct," said Valero.

Experts do not dare to set a date for when a complete simulation of the human body would be possible, although studies are already being carried out on the heart and the respiratory system (for example, in view of a bypass) with leading hospitals, also in Catalonia. After visiting Fugaku, Salvador Illa highlighted Valero's recognition by the Japanese institution and the value of putting this technology at the service of the public interest (and not the private sector). "Technology should be shared by everyone," the president emphasized, echoing Valero's warning that its potential cannot be left "in the hands of four wealthy crooks" (referring to the major technology magnates). With this in mind, the president also explored possibilities of collaboration with the Kobe Biomedical Innovation Cluster this Wednesday.

Robots in Kyoto, new Catalan ally

After Kobe, Isla concluded her trip to Japan this Thursday with the signing of a collaboration agreement between Catalonia and the Kyoto government, which institutionalizes collaboration, for example, in the field of research and innovation. There, at the headquarters of the ATR research institute, she met Erica, the android receptionist, behind a flag and a banner from the Kyoto headquarters to celebrate the alliance, with which work will begin in 2022. Technology is one of the areas in which both governments are interested in collaborating, for the collaboration of older people through androids.

Specifically, Illa participated in an experiment involving another humanoid, named Shosa, designed to respond to the movements and gestures of its interlocutors and establish nonverbal communication. This android, designed by the famous researcher Hiroshi Ishiguro, detects the movements of whoever is in front of it thanks to a pair of sensors. However, when Salvador Illa stood in front of it, the robot remained motionless. After several unsuccessful attempts (making Japanese officials nervous), the president turned to the crowd of journalists, cameramen, and members of his team behind him: "You're scaring him," he joked. He wasn't that far off the mark: a Japanese scientist asked the group to move aside because there were "too many people," and this was confusing the android. Minutes later, the robot opened its eyes and began following the president's movements. This Friday, Isla will travel to Seoul, the city where he will conclude the Asian tour that began on Monday.