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Since Wolfram|Alpha’s launch in May 2009, one of its most talked-about features has been its ability to compute specific answers to questions about math, chemistry, economics, demographics, and much more. But as its knowledge base continues to grow, it’s also able to highlight interesting and useful connections between data sets, and to reveal information that you might not think to ask for on your own.

One of the coolest examples of this is our recently enhanced relocation calculator. For several months, we’ve been able to answer simple questions about the relative cost of living in various United States cities and metropolitan areas. If you told Wolfram|Alpha that you were relocating from Seattle to Miami with a salary of $35000, you’d get a comparison of the relative cost of groceries, housing, and other expenses in each city, plus an estimate of the salary required to maintain a comparable standard of living in your destination city. On its own, this is a useful little calculator—but it’s also something that dozens of other websites could do.

But because Wolfram|Alpha knows tons of other details about any given city, our relocation calculator can now do things that no other site can. In addition to salary and cost-of-living comparisons, you now get comparisons of each city’s population, median home sale prices, unemployment rates, crime rates, sales taxes, traffic congestion, and climate—a useful sampling of current and historical comparative data for anyone contemplating a move.

We’ll highlight similar enhancements as they are released. And as always, we welcome your suggestions for new data, or new ways of looking at existing data, in any domain covered by Wolfram|Alpha.

We’ve been working diligently for several years to build a vast repository of genetic data into Wolfram|Alpha. At launch time, we had the entire human genome and all known human genes. Now, Wolfram|Alpha has genetic data for 11 different species, from humans and mice to fruit flies and worms. And we’re working hard to get more species in all the time.

These days we’re hearing more and more about how particular genes work, what their functions are, and what happens if a gene becomes mutated and stops functioning correctly. And with the personal genomics movement in full swing, we can even get portions of our own genomes sequenced, with a report detailing for us which gene variants we have and whether any put us at known high risk for diseases like breast cancer, diabetes, or Parkinson’s disease.

Well, Wolfram|Alpha makes it really easy to get in-depth information about a gene that interests you.

Take for example the gene SATB1, which recent studies have shown is an important factor in breast cancer growth. Wolfram|Alpha gives you a number of results about this gene. The first information is the standard and alternate names the gene goes by, which are important if you want to look it up in the literature:

After that, Wolfram|Alpha tells us that this gene is on chromosome 3, locus p23, on the minus strand, starting at around 18 megabases along the chromosome. There is then a snippet of the gene’s actual DNA sequence, and we learn that the gene is about 90 kilobases (90,000 base pairs) long, with a picture showing which other genes are close by on the chromosome (in this case, PP1P and KCNH8):

Clicking “More” a few times in the “Nearby genes” pod lets us zoom out to see more of the gene’s surrounding environment on the chromosome:

In case we’re curious about the region just downstream from this gene, we can find out about it immediately with a query like this:

But the whole point of a gene is to carry the information needed to create a protein. First the gene’s DNA is transcribed into messenger RNA (mRNA). At this step, much of the gene’s original DNA is left behind. The sections that are kept for the mRNA are called “exons”, and the sections that are left behind are called “introns”.  There are also sections at the beginning and end of the gene, called untranslated regions (UTRs), that are not included in the mRNA.

The “Gene splicing structures” pod shows the various patterns of introns and exons in the gene’s DNA sequence:

The mRNA is then translated into the final protein sequence. The name of the resulting protein and the protein’s molecular weight are also given:

Although the vast majority of our DNA is identical from person to person, every gene contains a small number of point mutations, called SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms), where the sequence tends to be different between people.  Often, a disease can be linked to the presence of just a single one of these SNPs. Wolfram|Alpha shows us where the SNPs are on the gene, and what fraction of the people tested had the alternative nucleotide base in their DNA:

And if we’re curious about any of these SNPs, we can easily get some further details:

Wolfram|Alpha also tells us what the gene’s job in the cell is, by giving us its typical functions, the locations the protein is found in, and the cell processes it plays a role in. In this case, we learn that SATB1 is a DNA-binding protein that acts as a transcription factor in the cell nucleus, which means it regulates the expression of other genes:

But how does this gene differ in other species, like the mouse? When the same gene is found in another species, it’s called a “homolog”. Wolfram|Alpha shows us how SATB1’s protein sequence differs between species:

In this case the start of the protein is highly conserved among species, with just a few small differences at the end. This tells us that evolution has made very few changes to the gene over millions of years. Compare this to the homologs for the gene BRCA1, which also plays an important role in breast cancer, where there are far more protein differences between species:

Notice that when we first asked for SATB1, Wolfram|Alpha offered a choice of species homologs:

So instead of the human gene, we could have just as well asked for the rat gene SATB1 instead:

We can also get a comparison between the two:

Currently, Wolfram|Alpha has genetic information for 11 different species: human (Homo sapiens), mouse (Mus musculus), rat (Rattus norvegicus), fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster), roundworm (Caenorhabditis elegans), yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana), cow (Bos taurus), zebrafish (Danio rerio), chicken (Gallus gallus), and dog (Canis lupus familiaris).

Here are some example queries:

• human gene HIF1A
• human gene MDM2 homologs
• fly gene cyce
• drosophila gene rho
• mouse trp53
• tnf gene rattus norvegicus
• r norvegicus gene drd1a
• zebrafish gene lcp1
• cmyb d rerio
• yeast CDC28
• cow gene NOS3
• arabidopsis HY5
• g gallus vcl
• dog gene KIT

So Wolfram|Alpha can be a useful tool for anyone wanting to learn about genetics. Whether you’re a researcher doing a comparative genomics study, or just someone who’s fascinated about a gene and what it does, Wolfram|Alpha is a great place to start.

With the 2010 Academy Awards coming up this Sunday, we’re happy to announce that Wolfram|Alpha is now able to answer questions about every Oscar nomination and award since the first ceremony in 1929. You might be surprised by some of the things you see in the earliest lists: yes, acting awards were bestowed for multiple performances in a given year; the Academy made a distinction between movies that were merely “unique and artistic” and those that were truly “outstanding”; and like the current Golden Globes (we’ll tackle them soon), separate awards were given for dramatic and comedic films.

You can dive into this data in practically any way you want. Curious about a particular film? Try “Academy Award nominations for Forrest Gump“. Or maybe you’re curious about the past performance of a perennial front-row Oscar celebrity?

Ask about a specific award, like “best actor oscars“, and you’ll get a historical list of all winners for that category. But ask about “best actor in 2004“, and Wolfram|Alpha will serve up a detailed cross-section of data relevant to that award—the winner, other nominees, and other Oscar nominations and awards for both the winner and the film he appeared in.

You may also notice that now when you simply ask Wolfram|Alpha about a person (”Matt Damon“) or a film (”Citizen Kane“), Wolfram|Alpha will also show Academy Award wins for that person or picture—and because we have basic biographical information about many Oscar winners, Wolfram|Alpha can compute how old each award winner or nominee was in a given year.

There are dozens of sources for Academy Awards information online, but we think Wolfram|Alpha provides the easiest, most direct way to find information about the Oscars. Let us know if you compute any surprising facts about your favorite actor, actress, screenwriter, or director (or costume designer, sound editor, or black-and-white cinematographer, and more)!

Catch Conrad Wolfram, Wolfram Research’s Director of Strategic Development, this Friday, March 5, from noon–1pm CET, live from CeBIT in Hannover, Germany. Conrad is participating in the “Webciety—Connecting Work & Life” panel discussion with featured guests Anand Agarawala (bumptop.com), Peter Berger (Suite101.com), Kevin Eyres (LinkedIn), and Ralf Gerbershagen (Motorola GmbH). The panel will discuss the impact that Web 2.0 and social networks have had on everyday life.

If you’re unable to attend CeBIT, the digital industry’s largest trade show, you can watch the live broadcast of the panel discussion.

Saturday’s massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake in Chile has captured the attention and concern of the world community. The area continues to be plagued by dozens of smaller quakes including at least nine of magnitude 6.0 or higher.

Below is a timeline of earthquake activity in Chile over the last 72 hours. Wolfram|Alpha’s earthquake data is updated every six minutes with information reported by the United States Geological Survey (USGS). The USGS reports activity within 30 minutes of most seismic events worldwide.

In addition to the map and timeline, the output shows the top three earthquakes (ranked in decreasing order of magnitude) within the past 72 hours, and clicking the “More” button will pull up information on the lower-magnitude shocks. Furthermore, you can see exact coordinates by clicking the “Show coordinates” button.

If you’re monitoring quake activity in Chile or other parts of the world, you will find Wolfram|Alpha useful for exploring a single event or series of events by time, location, and magnitude.

(The image below reflects activity within the 72 hours before this post was written; click the image for current information and further exploration.)

We’ve added a new feature that will come in handy for adding information from Wolfram|Alpha into your next blog post or presentation: you can now easily save results pods from Wolfram|Alpha as GIF images.

Here’s a quick walk-through to get you started. First, enter a query into Wolfram|Alpha, such as “1 cup of oatmeal + ½ cup of milk + 1 tsp of sugar“. You can then save results by right-clicking on the pod you want, then clicking on the “Generate image of output” icon that appears in the lower right corner of the popup pod.

Below is an example of a resulting image:

This functionality also allows you to capture any adjustments made to results pages through the use of available options. For example, if you click on the “Show mesh” button when exploring a map of Canada in Wolfram|Alpha, this setting will be preserved when an image of the output is generated.

We hope that you will find this feature valuable the next time you’re preparing a visual presentation, or want to save a particularly interesting result. Are there other kinds of user features would you like to see incorporated into Wolfram|Alpha? Let us know!

Also, if you are interested in testing new features before they go live, apply to be a preview tester.

Happy birthday, George Washington! In case you’d forgotten, President’s Day in the United States isn’t actually celebrated on George Washington’s birthday: since 1971, it has fallen on the 3rd Monday in February, which means it’s always at least one day short of the first president’s actual birthday, February 22.

As you might imagine for a man referred to as “the father of the country,” the name “Washington” has taken on a life of its own—and as such, it provides a good opportunity to see how Wolfram|Alpha deals with cases where a single word can be interpreted in many different ways.

Type “Washington” on its own, and you’ll learn that the word could refer to a city, a U.S. state, a surname, a specific person, or a given name. For users in the United States, Wolfram|Alpha will assume you’re talking about the nation’s capital, and then give a list of alternate cities ranked by a combination of population, distance from your current location, and general popularity. But if you’re in the United Kingdom, the default assumption will be a place closer to home:

When you ask more-specific questions about “Washington”, Wolfram|Alpha is usually able to make even-more-intelligent assumptions about which Washington you really want know about. Ask for “distance from seattle to washington” and you’ll get the great-circle distance between two cities. Try to “compare virginia and washington“, and you’ll get a stat-by-stat comparison of the two U.S. states. Ask Wolfram|Alpha “when was Washington born?” and the result is the first U.S. president’s birthday; try “washingtons in 1900” and you’ll discover that about 28 U.S. residents were given that first name that year, or ask about “washington as a last name” and Wolfram|Alpha will reveal that more than 160,000 people had that last name in the 2000 U.S. Census.

Returning sensible, accurate answers to short questions might seem like child’s play—but in fact, this aspect of Wolfram|Alpha is incredibly complex. When everything works perfectly, you shouldn’t even notice the alternate assumptions for a given question. But if you’re not getting exactly the answer you were looking for, take a second look at the assumptions Wolfram|Alpha made when it computed your answer—you may find the answer you’re looking for by selecting a different interpretation, or at least discover some surprising facts you never knew existed.

Crossword puzzle enthusiasts from all over will gather in Brooklyn, New York this weekend for the 33rd Annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (ACPT) hosted by New York Times Crossword Puzzle Editor Will Shortz.

In 2009, some 700 puzzle solvers competed in the seven-round tournament in the hopes that their speed and accuracy would land them a spot in their division’s final round. This year, all eyes are on the ACPT’s youngest and five-time reigning champion, Tyler Hinman.

Whether you’re a champion-caliber puzzle solver, or you just enjoy the challenge of the New York Times puzzle on a Sunday afternoon, a solving aid can sometimes come in handy. One place you may not have thought to look is Wolfram|Alpha. It contains a number of word-puzzle tools that help you find words that match a pattern, words with specific endings or beginnings, word definitions, and more.

The excitement leading up the ACPT reminded us of the post below from our blog archives, which demonstrates how you can use Wolfram|Alpha to help solve most common crossword puzzles.

Wolfram|Alpha S_LV_S Crossword Puzzles

Does today’s crossword have you puzzled? You could continue to fret, and fight the urge to check the full solution, or you could consult Wolfram|Alpha, which has the tools you need to solve the sneakiest constructions.

Click here to continue reading this entry…

So whether you’re solving crosswords this weekend at ACPT or from your couch—good luck! And if you find yourself puzzled, be sure check in with Wolfram|Alpha for a little help!

In celebration of YouTube’s fifth birthday, we thought it would be fun to highlight a few of our favorite Wolfram|Alpha videos available through the popular broadcasting site.

On Wolfram|Alpha’s YouTube Channel you can catch behind-the-scenes footage of some of the work that went into creating the computational knowledge engine, take a virtual tour of one of the system’s supercomputers, and much more.

Here are a few of our favorite Wolfram|Alpha videos to get you started.

Rack ‘n’ Roll

Here’s our system administration team hard at work on one of the many pre-launch projects:

Wolfram|Alpha Launch: Introduction

In this introductory video, Wolfram|Alpha’s creator, Stephen Wolfram, welcomes viewers to the live launch event on May 15, 2009. You can view 11 additional videos from the Wolfram|Alpha Launch playlist, too.

A Moment with the Wolfram|Alpha Developers

This video is the first from the series “A Moment with the Wolfram|Alpha Developers“. In this series, some of the developers describe their roles and share their thoughts about the Wolfram|Alpha project.

Wolfram|Alpha Homework Day: Teaching 4th Grade Students Using Wolfram|Alpha

Educators and students will appreciate the collection of videos from our first-ever Wolfram|Alpha Homework Day, including interviews and demonstrations by educators and administrators who are using Wolfram|Alpha in their schools. In this clip, Shannon Smith, a fourth grade teacher, shares how she integrates Wolfram|Alpha into all of the subject areas that she teaches, from spelling and language to geography, science, and math.

Wolfram|Alpha Explores the Science of Punkin’Chuckin’

See the Wolfram pumpkin fly at the first annual CUPunkin’Chuckin’ Challenge. Punkin’Chuckin’ is the art of hurling pumpkins (or multiple pumpkins) great distances with smartly engineered, often homemade, devices such as trebuchets and catapults. You can also check out our blog post to learn more about punkin’ chuckin’.

We hope you enjoyed these and our other Wolfram|Alpha videos available on YouTube, and we invite you to subscribe to the Wolfram|Alpha channel so you’ll be notified when new ones are posted. What things would you like to see us cover in upcoming videos?

Valentine’s Day is special to sweethearts around the world. While Wolfram|Alpha can’t come close to replacing a thoughtful card or gourmet box of chocolates, there are a surprisingly large number of things related to Valentine’s Day (and in particular, to its central icon) that Wolfram|Alpha can compute.

Let’s start with the holiday itself. Just typing in “valentine’s day” gives the expected calendrical information, from which we learn that Valentine’s Day falls on a Sunday this year. For the procrastinators among us, we can also find out how many days we have remaining to acquire an appropriate token of affection for our loved one (or by how many days we’ve already blown our chance). Wolfram|Alpha also shows various other useful data, including the interesting fact that Valentine’s Day coincides with Chinese New Year this year.

While Wolfram|Alpha can’t (yet) tell you how many calories are in your box of holiday chocolates or package of Valentine’s Day Sweethearts candy, there are plenty of computational objects related to that most-famous Valentine’s Day icon—the heart—that it can tell you something interesting and/or useful about. For instance, do you know the average weight of a human heart? The typical resting heart rate? The Unicode point for the heart symbol character? Or perhaps you’ve forgotten the ASCII keystrokes needed to insert a love emoticon at the end of an email to your Sweet Baboo?

On the mathematical side, typing in “heart curve” gives you a number of mathematical curves resembling the heart shape. The default (and probably most famous) of these is the cardioid, whose name after all means “heart-shaped” in Latin (and about which we all have fond memories dating back to our introductory calculus courses):

A curve more closely resembling the conventional schematic (if not physiological) heart shape is the so-called “first heart curve“, which is an algebraic curve described by a beautifully simple sextic Cartesian equation:

If you don’t care for any of the heart curves Wolfram|Alpha knows about (or even if you do), you’re also of course also free to experiment with your own. For example, a particularly attractive curve can be obtained using the relatively simple input “polar plot 2 - 2 sin t + sin t sqrt (abs(cos t))/(sin t + 1.4)“.

As Wolfram|Alpha knows about plane curves with special relationship to Valentine’s Day, you might next think to try surfaces. After typing in “heart surface“, you are indeed rewarded with the following image (for which we’ll perhaps give Wolfram|Alpha a small demerit for its lack of bright red pigmentation):

(Incidentally, for many more details on heart-related curves and surfaces, see their respective MathWorld articles.)

Another unexpected computable object related to Valentine’s Day is the map projection known as the Bonne projection, which mathematically maps the surface of a globe onto a heart-shaped region:

I could go on, but you get the idea. While it’s certainly true that Wolfram|Alpha can never take the place of your real Valentine, it does do the best it can on the computational side of things. So, if that’s where your affections lie—and if you let it—Wolfram|Alpha will do everything it can, from being happy to be your Valentine to sharing philosophical musings on the meaning of love.