Microsoft Research this morning is releasing a new book that aims to draw attention to the potential of bringing together large amounts of data from different repositories to help scientists make discoveries. The book, "The Fourth Paradigm," is available for free download.

The book builds on the work of Jim Gray, the Turing Award-winning Microsoft researcher who was lost at sea in January 2007. The introduction is based on a talk Gray gave earlier that month to the National Research Council's Computer Science and Telecommunication Board, in which he called for better ways of collecting and curating data, and making it publicly available in "digital data libraries" to help advance scientific work.

Microsoft's hope is to "democratize science, and make it easier for scientists to do their science without having to worry about the nuts and bolts of computing infrastructure," said Tony Hey, the Microsoft External Research corporate vice president.

The rest of the book contains essays on the implications for health care and the environment, written by researchers from Microsoft and other institutions around the world. The conclusion describes the book as "as a call to action for the entire research community, governments, funding agencies, and the public."

"We urge collaboration toward a common goal of a better life for all humanity," write the editors in the book's conclusion. "We find ourselves in a phase in which we need to use our scientific understanding to achieve specific goals for the sake of humanity’s survival. It is clear that to achieve this aim, we very much need experts with deep scientific knowledge to work closely with those who have deep experience with technology."