The Allosphere - a neat new scientific instrument

[syscom3]

This is cool.

And no, this is not a joke. This is a interesting way of displaying scientific data.

Talks JoAnn Kuchera-Morin: Tour the AlloSphere, a stunning new way to see scientific data

Demo: Stunning data visualization | Video on TED.com

 

[Colin1]

Genuinely impressive
Arts, sciences and engineering synergetically integrated

You give your eye-teeth to be involved in programs like that...

 

[johnbr]

Very very cool.

 

[Bill G.]

WOW!!!

I have studied electronics since 1970 in High School. I was stunned by the orbit of an electron. I always pictured it like a planet's orbit around a sun. Boy was I wrong! The electron has a "path" that is most surprising!

I'll bet some here would love a smaller version for their Aircraft Sim/Combat games! Who knows!

Bill G.

 

[Njaco]

That looked like Ted Turner with his moustache shaved and a blonde wig on!

Wish I could really understand what she was talking about. WAY over my head. I get the concept but application has me confused.

 

[syscom3]

That looked like Ted Turner with his moustache shaved and a blonde wig on!

Wish I could really understand what she was talking about. WAY over my head. I get the concept but application has me confused.

Humans (some at least) are pretty good at hearing patterns in musical chords and such.

Sometimes you can deduce and understand phenomona when you can see and hear events happening in real time.

 

[mkloby]

That looked like Ted Turner with his moustache shaved and a blonde wig on!

Wish I could really understand what she was talking about. WAY over my head. I get the concept but application has me confused.

You and me both buddy!

 

[GrauGeist]

Really cool stuff, syscom...it'll be interesting to see where this project leads over the next few years...

And, am I the only one that thinks this looks like it came off of a Led Zepplin album cover?

 

[syscom3]

 

[evangilder]

That is really cool! Being able to see the photon fire and electron movement visually is quite a feat. The medical applications could bring new breakthroughs. Neat stuff.

 

[Njaco]

Thats what I mean, Eric. That "Code defects" and "Intercranial algorythms" stuff confuses me. Just say, "here we are going through the brain and as we go we're going to get smaller and smaller....." Explain it to me like I'm a 3 yr old. And yes, I know she/he was talking to a roomfull of Nano-heads.

Still cool, though.

 

[Gnomey]

Very cool! I really want a go with it, would be great fun. Almost certainly we will see some new discoveries with this device (and more like it).

I understood all the biological stuff and got most of the rest of it until she started talking about particle physics

 

[evangilder]

Chris, the brain is obviously a very complex system. You have electrical impulses, chemical reactions and various other functions that are all taking place at once, within different parts of the brain. For them being able to take it down to the most minute detail, they can get a better understanding of how it all works.

I have always believed that autism is a problem with brain chemistry, and recent research has shown some interesting things, like when an autistic child gets a fever, it "unlocks" the autism. This would point to some kind of chemical reaction that does, or does not happen because of the heightened temperature. If they could study the brain to compare the differences between normal brain functions versus other functions in say, autism or retardation, they could really learn and maybe someday eliminate, or at least alleviate these things.

 

[Njaco]

Don't get me wrong, I agree with everything you posted. I just don't know why they can't explain it a little simpler. I came away with, "Its a nice idea but it doesn't interest me." Which I know is wrong. But if I was standing in an ER and a Doctor was talking to me like that, I would slap him. I get so turned off by that.

 

[evangilder]

Sometimes people that are in highly technical careers have difficulty bringing things down to a layman's level. I have been in the tech industry for years, so I get a lot of great info, sometimes I need to read other sources to better understand. But I always try to operate by the KISS principle (Keep It Simple Stupid).

Here is an example. I am a network engineer. Most people have no idea what a network engineer does. So I tell them I am basically a plumber. I build and maintain the pipes that take the data from place to place. Picture computers and servers as houses and the communication lines as plumbing. Then picture that data that flows through them as the water. Bingo, I am a plumber.

I had someone ask me some crazy server/application question today. I looked him straight in the eye and said "How should I know, I'm just the plumber". That got a good laugh.

Unfortunately there are folks in IT (and other technical fields) that don't have the ability, or don't care to bring it down to the level of the layman.

 

[GrauGeist]

...So I tell them I am basically a plumber...

That's a great way to put it!

 

[Njaco]

Thats fantastic!!

It could also be that I'm just grumpy lately!