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CNN Enter the tiny world of the molecule 3-D visuals help scientists interact with tiny particles By Marsha Walton GAITHERSBURG, Maryland (CNN) --Government scientists are using special software, eyewear, projectors and mirrors to delve into a three-dimensional world filled with the tiny particles that make up our world. It's called immersive visualization. Instead of just seeing formulas on a page, it gives researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology a chance to take a look at their equations and theories, and virtually see if they will work. Scientists hooked up to this equipment can look around, over, or under objects being studied, because they become part of the action. They can also move objects by remote control. "Visualization enables you to get a lot of information quickly into your brain," said Judith Devaney, leader of the Scientific Applications and Visualization Group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). "And immersive visualization gives you something additional, all the spatial relationships you can use to also get information into your brain," she said. Just how "real" is this experience? Devaney says when participants are immersed in a scene showing a steep cliff, many refuse to step over it, even though they know they are safe and on solid ground. "If you are looking at a computer screen, it is like looking at a fishbowl. But if you are in an immersive visualization, it is like being inside the fishbowl, with the fish, at their scale," Devaney said. In this environment, researchers can examine and manipulate objects they are studying, from a minuscule molecule, to a skyscraper or an airliner. "Scientists are so into their equations that they have a gut feeling, or intuitive feeling about what's in that research," said Steven Satterfield, a computer scientist at NIST who works in this visualization lab. But he said, in this super-sized visual environment "it's like the scientist will go, 'Aha! that's it, that's exactly what I was thinking.' " Or perhaps a scientist will say, "No, that's not it, there's something wrong," Satterfield said. The NIST lab where the research is under way takes virtual reality to the extreme. Users wear high-end 3-D glasses, and a head-tracking device follows their movements. The scientists stand between two 8-by-8-foot video screens. One series of projects using this technology is the study of "smart gels." Those are materials that normally are liquids, but turn into gels when shaken or when the temperature changes. But it's not clear why that happens. Devaney said the visualization helps scientists get a better understanding of the transition. Once they know how the gel is created, they can better design materials for particular uses. These gels are being studied for a variety of uses, including shock absorbers, food additives and treatments for tumors. Future immersive visualization projects may add other qualities such as the ability to feel the textures of different materials and to look into dense objects such as rocks. "Making various things transparent is something we're working on right now," she said. OPEN SOURCE NIST is making some aspects of this technology available to those outside the scientific community. The software that runs the visualization program is open source, so anyone with a Linux operating system and a graphics card could get some components.
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