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'Meta!Blast: The Leaf' (Image 2)
This screenshot from "Meta!Blast: The Leaf," by Eve Syrkin Wurtele, William Schneller, Paul Klippel, Greg Hanes, Andrew Navratil and Diane Bassham of Iowa State University, was an entry in the games & apps category of the 2013 Visualization Challenge, now called the Vizzies.
More about this image
"Meta!Blast: The Leaf" is a game that immerses the player on and in a leaf. Intended as a supplement to in-class instruction, it lets high-school students pilot a miniature bioship across a strange landscape that features nematodes and a lumbering tardigrade. They can dive into individual cells and zoom around a chloroplast, while activating photosynthesis with their ship's search lamp. By conveying the complexity and visual interest of a biological system, Eve Wurtele and her team seek to increase student engagement with science and encourage a strong foundation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. To play the game, go to the 2013 winners page of the Vizzies Special Report website and search for "Meta!Blast" and then click "Play the Game."
While the screenshot was not a winner, another screenshot (see Image 1) from the game won people's choice in the games and apps category of the 2013 Vizzies, a long-running, annual competition co-sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Popular Science magazine. [The competition was formerly named the International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge (SciVis) and was previously co-sponsored with AAAS' journal Science.] The competition aims to recognize some of the most beautiful visualizations from the worlds of science and engineering and awards prizes in five categories: photography, video, illustration, posters & graphics and interactives.
To learn more about the competition and view all the winning entries, past and present, see the NSF Special Report The VIZZIES: Visualization Challenge. (Date of Image: 2011-2013) [Image 2 of 2 related images. Back to Image 1.]
[Note: The development of the 3-D models for cell biology, metabolic biology and stress biology is based on forefront research and is supported in part by contributions from portions of the broader impacts of several NSF research awards (grants MCB 09-51170, IOS 11-49603 and EEC 08-13570). Undergraduate students on the Meta!Blast team who have been supported by this funding have come from fields as diverse as biological illustration, computer science, engineering, art and design, English and bioinformatics. As of Spring 2013, Meta!Blast is being piloted in core biology classes at three undergraduate institutions.]
Credit: Eve Syrkin Wurtele, William Schneller, Paul Klippel, Greg Hanes, Andrew Navratil and Diane Bassham, Iowa State University
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