Julian's Polymath Explorations

(UPDATED MAY 2026).   So, you want to build a python app or Jupyter notebook to utilize Neo4j, but aren't too keen on coding a lot of string manipulation to programmatic create ad-hoc Cypher queries?   You're in the right place: the GraphAccess library (formerly called NeoAccess) can do take care of all that, sparing you from lengthy, error-prone development that requires substantial graph-database and software-development expertise! This article is part 4 of a growing,  ongoing  series  on Graph Databases and Neo4j   "GraphAccess" is the bottom layer of the technology stack provided by the BrainAnnex open-source project .  All layers are very modular, and the GraphAccess library may also be used by itself , entirely separately from the rest of the technology stack.  (A diagram of the full stack is shown later in this article.) GraphAccess interacts with the Neo4j Python driver , which is provided by the Neo4j company, to acce...

So, you have an itch to test-drive Neo4j and its Cypher query language.  Maybe you want to learn it, or evaluate it, or introduce colleagues/clients to it.  And you wish for: fast, simple and free! Well, good news: the Neo4j company kindly provides a free, short-term hosted solution called "the Neo4j sandbox" .  Extremely easy to set up and use! This article is part 2 of a growing, ongoing series on Graph Databases and Neo4j Register (free) for the Neo4j "Sandbox" Go to sandbox.neo4j.com , and register with a working email and a password.  That's it! Note that this same email/password will also let you into the Neo4j Community Forums and Support ; the same login for all: very convenient! Launch your instance - blank or pre-populated After registering, go to  sandbox.neo4j.com  , and follow the steps in the diagram below (the choices might differ, but the "Blank Sandbox" should always be there): Too good to be true?  Is there...

You have a general idea of what Graph Databases - and Neo4j in particular - are...  But how to get started?  Read on! This article is part 3 of a growing,  ongoing  series  on Graph Databases and Neo4j   If you're new to graph databases, please check out part 1 for an intro and motivation about them.  There, we discussed an example about an extremely simple database involving actors, movies and directors...  and saw how easy the Cypher query language makes it to answer questions such as "which directors have worked with Tom Hanks in 2016" - questions that, when done with relational databases and SQL, turn into a monster of a query and an overly-complicated data model involving a whopping 5 tables! In this tutorial, we will actually carry out that query - and get acquainted with Cypher and the Neo4j browser interface in the process.  This is the dataset we'll be constructing: Get the database in place If you don't already have a datab...

UPDATED Apr. 2023 - I'm excited by ChatGPT 's possibilities in terms of facilitating advanced learning .  For example, I got enlightening answers to questions that I had confronted when I first studied neuroscience.  The examples below are taken from a very recent session I had with ChatGPT (mid Jan. 2023.) Source: https://neurosciencestuff.tumblr.com In case you're not familiar with ChatGPT, it's a very sophisticated "chatbot" - though, if you call it that way, it'll correct you!  'I am not a "chatbot", I am a language model, a sophisticated type of AI algorithm trained on vast amounts of text data to generate human-like text'. For a high-level explanation of how ChatGPT actually works - which also gives immense insight into its weaknesses, there's an excellent late Jan. 2023 talk by Stephen Wolfram, the brilliant author of the Mathematica software and of Wolfram Alpha , a product that could be combined with ChatGPT to imp...

UPDATED Feb. 2024 - Graph databases have an easygoing laissez-faire attitude: "express yourself (almost) however you want"... By contrast, relational databases come across with an attitude like a micro-manager:  "my way or the highway"... Is there a way to take the best of both worlds and distance oneself from their respective excesses, as best suited for one's needs?  A way to marry the flexibility of Graph Databases and the discipline of Relational Databases? This article is part 5 of a growing,  ongoing  series  on Graph Databases and Neo4j Let's Get Concrete Consider a simple scenario with scientific data such as the Sample, Experiment, Study, Run Result , where Samples are used in Experiments, and where Experiments are part of Studies and produce Run Results.  That’s all very easy and intuitive to represent and store in a Labeled Graph Database such as Neo4j .   For example, a rough draft might go like this:   The “labels” (b...

(UPDATED 8/2022) - Are we ready to embark on a next-generation detailed quantitative modeling of complex biological systems , including whole-cell simulations?  An anticipated up-jump in computing power may be imminent from Photonics computers (which I discuss here ), and GPU's are rapidly gaining power as well...  Are we in ready state to put existing - and upcoming - power to good use? This is a manifest, and a call to action What's Life123? It's about detailed quantitative modeling of biological systems in 1-D, 2-D and full 3-D, as well as a multi-faceted software platform for doing so. What's (pseudo-)1D?  For now, let's say it's like the inside of a long, thin tube - with no interactions with the tube.  Likewise, (pseudo-)2D can be thought of as a Petri dish, with no interactions with the lid or the bottom. Website : https://life123.science A purposeful decision to also utilize 1D and 2D But why?  Yes, it's in part about "walk before you run...