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Visualizing Data Inside the 30-ft Allosphere

Posted by timothy on from the bah-I've-seen-bigger dept.

TEDChris writes "The Allosphere, being created at UC Santa Barbara, is the most ambitious attempt yet at creating powerful 3d visualizations of raw scientific data, such as the structure of a crystal, or how quantum effects take place. Researchers watch from a bridge inside the 30-foot sphere, looking at data projected 360 degrees around them and listening to 3D sound. The first major public demo of the facility has just been posted at TED.com. Optimists would argue that many of the greatest scientific breakthroughs happened through a new visual way of imagining data. Penicillin and relativity come to mind. So this is either a killer new research vehicle, an incredible toy, or just an insanely expensive art project."

4 of 131 comments (clear)

  1. Find people with powers? by Again · · Score: 5, Funny

    What I want to know is if it can find people with powers. If it can, then I need to build myself an awful looking hat.

  2. Mac vs. PC by inertia187 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Mac: Hi, I'm a Mac.

    PC: And ... I'm ... a ... PC.

    Mac: Wow, PC. You're really slow today.

    PC: Yes ... I'm ... running ... AlloSphere ... research ... for ... UCSB ... ... today.

    Mac: What exactly is the AlloSphere useful for?

    PC: Scientifically, ... it ... is ... an ... instrument ... for ... gaining ... insight ... and ... developing ... bodily ... intuition ... about ... environments ... into ... which ... the ... body ... cannot ... venture: ... abstract, ... higher- ... -dimensional ... information ... spaces, ... the ... worlds ... of ... the ... very ... small ... or ... very ... large, ... and ... the ... realms ... of ... the ... very ... fast ... or ... very ... slow, ... in ... fields ... ranging ... from ... nanotechnology ... to ... theoretical ... physics, ... from ... proteomics ... to ... cosmology, ... from ... neurophysiology ... to ... the ... spaces ... of ... consciousness, ... and ... from ... new ... materials ... to ... new ... media.

    Mac: Wow, that ... that sounds pretty amazing.

    PC: It ... is.

    Mac: Anything else?

    PC: 42.

    Mac: What does that even mean?

    PC: I ... have ... no ... idea.

    --
    A programmer is a machine for converting coffee into code.
    1. Re:Mac vs. PC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Why is PC running Shatner OS?

  3. No imagination... by iluvcapra · · Score: 3, Funny

    So this is either a killer new research vehicle, an incredible toy, or just an insanely expensive art project.

    All three, you got the superego, the id and the ego all in one machine.

    --
    Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.