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Hubble Images Become Tactile 3D Experience For the Blind

Posted by samzenpus on from the feel-the-space dept.

An anonymous reader writes "3D printers are transforming the business, medical, and consumer landscapes by creating objects like airplane parts, lamps, jewellery, and even artificial human bones. Now astronomers are experimenting with the technology to transform astronomy education, turning images from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope into tactile 3D pictures for people who cannot explore celestial wonders visually."

20 comments

  1. Re:God by fisted · · Score: 1

    doesn't change the fact that your OS sucks.

    --
    CLI paste? paste.pr0.tips!
  2. Cold... cold... warm. Hot, hot, hot.... by c0lo · · Score: 2

    Be prepared to touch a range starting from cold cosmic dust clouds to the zillions of Kelvins or so of neutron stars.
    But... avoid the black holes experience if you can.

    --
    Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
    1. Re:Cold... cold... warm. Hot, hot, hot.... by msobkow · · Score: 1

      There are so many possibilities. Vertical height to indicate gravity strength, or vertical height to indicate temperature?

      What about "roughness" as a dimension?

      Personally I think trying to express a 3D universe as a 2D "image" with 3D "effects" would be more confusing than just relying on the imagination.

      --
      I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
    2. Re:Cold... cold... warm. Hot, hot, hot.... by rossdee · · Score: 1

      Thats one advantage the blind have - they can feel the black hole, but sighted people can't see it.

      I just realised that could be taken the wrong way, oh well...

    3. Re:Cold... cold... warm. Hot, hot, hot.... by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      Thats one advantage the blind have - they can feel the black hole, but sighted people can't see it.

      I sense some really bad Goatse Braille jokes coming. I'm switching topics before it's too late.

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
  3. who is this god person anyway by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    who is this god person anyway

    1. Re:who is this god person anyway by msobkow · · Score: 1

      Therein lies the problem with most religions. They think of God as a "person", anthromorphising to the hilt.

      If the universe is alive and intelligent (as I believe), it's as far away from a human as we are from an amoeba.

      --
      I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
    2. Re:who is this god person anyway by dbIII · · Score: 1

      anthromorphising to the hilt

      That's not a black hole analogy is it?

  4. Any citations for the bold claims? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1
    What part of the business and consumer world is being transformed and what is the transformation?

    What human bone has been 3D printed? It's just a mold for harvested cells to cling to. All I see about "3d printed human bones" is an awful lot of "may"s and just stuff shaped like a bone.

    Can we please have a bit of critical thinking here please? The tone of these 3D printing stories is just mindless fanboyism.

    1. Re:Any citations for the bold claims? by dbIII · · Score: 1

      For a medically useful example well over a decade ago there was a 3D model of a child's deformed skull generated from CAT imaging. The surgeon used it to devise and test a successful procedure of cutting and moving bone for facial reconstruction by cutting up the model skull. That example was on display at the facility where it was "printed" from around 2001.
      Meanwhile there are people printing nerve tissue and portions of organs based on material grown from people - all designed to make it so the printed material will not be rejected. I don't know about bone though, however to me the reality approaching exceeds the mindless fanboyism and silly hype about guns. You can make better guns with hand tools.

  5. Also, sign language for the deaf: by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap030630.html

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  6. Well, I hope they don't print it 1:1 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Leave some filament for the rest of us...

  7. Slashdot Beta for the blind? Slashdot Beta for the by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I can see perfectly fine, but I find this new Slashdot Beta that I've been yet again forced to use damn near unusable.

    Why is there so much goddamn wasted space? Everywhere I look I see an empty teal, dark gray or light gray area. Collectively, the summaries probably take up less than 5% of my screen space now!

    The story pictures are way too big, too. And I hate how only some stories have them. It makes it harder to tell what's a story and what isn't.

    The discussion section of each story is now really, really fucked up. They're much too difficult to follow and read with this new styling.

    The new site feels really, really slow to me, too. The old one wasn't particularly fast, either, but it wasn't this frigging slow.

    Yeah, I know about the nobeta=1 query string parameter. But I don't think it'll last long, and I shouldn't have to use it.

    Let's face it, Slashdot Beta is a complete and utter failure. That's right. It's a failed software project. They happen. So the best thing to do is to discard it completely. There's no saving it! Slashdot, please, cut your losses and get rid of this really damn awful beta site.

  8. Shouldn't be hard by grub · · Score: 3, Funny
    "Feel this 3D printed model of a star?"

    "Yes."

    "Imagine countless billions more of them so far away you can't touch them."

    "Whoa."

    --
    Trolling is a art,
    1. Re:Shouldn't be hard by Vitriol+Angst · · Score: 1

      Even if they make the Z-Depth a factor of 10 smaller than the X-Y coordinates, any model will have to be at least 3 TIMES bigger for them to really see how big the universe is.

      --
      >>"ad space available -- low rates!!!"
  9. Re: Slashdot Beta for the blind? Slashdot Beta for by grub · · Score: 1

    Slashdot Beta - A roll of the Dice...

    --
    Trolling is a art,
  10. Does this mean they could feel... by BlogTheHaggis · · Score: 0

    ...Uranus ...?

  11. Re:Slashdot Beta for the blind? Slashdot Beta for by Hatta · · Score: 1

    I hope they push the beta on everyone, and suffer a huge backlash for it. MobyGames recently got sold and corporate types took over and put a stylish but useless redesign on the database. Outrage ensued, and a few weeks later the site was sold to someone who actually cares about gaming. I'd really like the same thing to happen to /.

    --
    Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
  12. Hang on! by zacherynuk · · Score: 1

    What about those of us who wish to explore both visually and haptically ?

    Are these 3D images JUST for the visually challenged? Seems mighty unfair to me. Like 'toilets for the disabled'.. surely they mean 'toilets with disabled access' ?

    Am I not allowed to walk up the wheel chair ramp now, or use the chair lift either? Am I going to have to gouge my eyes out and chop off my legs in order to enjoy all the good new tech !?