![\"\"](\"http:\/\/labrigger.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/tb.png\" "\\"Tycho")
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Like the Mayan astronomers<\/a> over 600 years before him, Tycho Brahe<\/a> was a data factory. A data factory in the same vein as the Human Genome Project<\/a>. Or as the Allen Institute for Brain Science<\/a> is today.<\/p>\n In most formulations of the scientific method<\/a>, the hypothesis is generated somewhere in the middle. What comes first is careful observation. What comes last are the hypothesis-testing experiments and controls. Often these individual steps are handled by different scientists and groups. For example, the Human Genome Project’s primary goal was one of observation, not hypothesis testing. Perhaps the same is true for the Mayans who observed the movement of Venus across the sky.<\/p>\n Tycho Brahe did what the Mayans did, 600 years later and in even more detail. He had the best primary data for the positions of celestial objects in the sky at the time. It was this high quality data that enabled Kepler<\/a> to work out elliptical orbits for the planets.<\/p>\n A new website, Neurotycho.org<\/a>, is set out on a similar mission. There, you can download data from primate experiments and reanalyze it. The setup seems as if they’ll accept data from other people at some point, but so far, it’s a one lab show. That one lab is Naotaka Fujii’s RIKEN lab.<\/p>\n There are similar efforts elsewhere in neuroscience. What’s unique about Neurotycho is that they seem to be reaching out to a very general audience. They also have a wiki with more details.<\/p>\n \n Like the Mayan astronomers<\/a> over 600 years before him, Tycho Brahe<\/a> was a data factory. A data factory in the same vein as…<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/labrigger.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/nt1.png\" "\\"nt1\\"")
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