According to the New York Times, molecular animation has become a significant part of biology today. Dr. Robert A. Lue, professor of cell biology at Harvard University, has begun constructing not only images of cells, but also animations. Dr. Lue is one of the pioneers of molecular animation, a rapidly growing field that seeks to bring the power of cinema to biology.
“The ability to animate really gives biologists a chance to think about things in a whole new way,” said Janet Iwasa, a cell biologist who now works as a molecular animator at Harvard Medical School.
Molecular animation gives biologists the chance to show people how cells work in a completely different way. However, there is some controversy in this particular field. Some feel that this line of study can be easily turned into fiction rather than fact.
“Some animations are clearly more Hollywood than useful display,” says Peter Walter, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at the University of California, San Francisco. “It can become hard to distinguish between what is data and what is fantasy.”
I found this article to be very interesting. I feel that this could really help with education in biology. Personally, I always find myself staring at pictures in the textbook and not really understanding what I'm looking at. If I was able to watch an animation, however, it would be a lot easier to comprehend what was going on. If this ever becomes purely scientific, I feel that it could tremendously help the future.
i REALLY enjoyed reading this post/article and watching the video. i agree that cinematic science could be very helpful in classrooms across the nation on every level of education. for me, i'm a very visual learner; i learn more about things by following the pictures in the book than i do by reading the words that try to describe what's going on. the fact that someone is now taking the pictures and the flow charts of the biological processes from the books and turning them into animated videos is very exciting to me. in my chem II class last spring, i always looked forward to watching the short little 10-20 second cheesy animated clips because they were entertaining and got my attention. sometimes it's nice to take a little break from listening to a teacher or professor and watch a video of what we're talking about. very nice article. kudos :)
ReplyDeleteThank you! I enjoyed it as well. I am also a visual learner so I feel that once this is perfected it can truly help in education. Sometimes learning about cells is confusing, but being able to see exactly what is happening is definitely helpful.
ReplyDeleteThis new way of looking at what actually goes on in cells is very helpful for learning. I think with this technology teachers will be able to get kids attentions and also the kids will actually understand what is going on in class. For me, watching a video on how someting works after a teacher lectures about it for an hour would deffinatly connect all the dots.
ReplyDeleteI liked how this gives you a new way to look at cells. I can relate because I am a visual learner. I think this will help many students understand the material better.
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