Neuroscientists are now using "Thunder," a single workstation that can analyze large and complex data sets that usually take days and weeks to analyze.

Researchers recently used Thunder to analyze imaging data from a new microscope that monitored the activity of nearly every individual cell in the brain of a zebrafish as it behaved in response to visual stimuli.

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Using Thunder, researchers analyzed images of the zebrafish brain in minutes instead of an hour.

Jeremy Freeman, one of the scientists using Thunder, said there are new microscopes that capture images of the brain faster. The detail comes encrypted in gigabytes and terabytes of data, however.

He said that on a single workstation, simple calculations can take hours. Freeman said that for a lot of these data sets, a single machine is not going to cut it.

Mischa Ahrens, another researcher using Thunder, said in recording information from the brain, scientists don't know the best way to get the information they need because every data set is different.

Because of this, neuroscientists rarely arrive at new insights about the brain. They just have an initial analysis that may provide a hint for more promising approach.

Ahrens said that being able to apply analyses quickly is important. Speed gives researchers more flexibility to explore and arrive at new ideas.

For analyzing larger data sets, tools such as Thunder aren't only helpful, they're essential.

Thunder is part of a library of tools developed at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Janelia Research Campus.