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.
