Friday, January 7, 2011

Cool Technology of the Week

The creative folks at Google Labs have introduced a 3D body browser, which is essentially a Google Earth for the human body.   It supports 3D rotation, zoom, and exploring the nervous system, circulatory system, musculoskeletal system, and organs.

The application requires a browser that supports WebGL, a cross-platform, royalty-free API used to create 3D graphics in a Web browser.

Google Chrome, Firefox 4 Beta, and Safari with Webkit fully support WebGL.

At Harvard Medical School, we've created and purchased tools that enable the medical students to perform 3D navigation of the human body as part of their anatomy coursework.   Now, similar resources are available for the public to access free of charge.

Google Earth for the Human Body - that's cool!

2 comments:

  1. Dr. Halamka,

    I wanted to give exposure(actually slight addiction) to medical students at my Alma Mater Medical college in India of this magnificent technology.

    Would you be able to share your infrastructure at HMS and how you train your students.

    I would like to donate and personally supervise similar concept at my alma mater

    ReplyDelete