Friday, December 15, 2000

Exploring Earth's Interior With Virtual Reality

Seismic Tomography
In "Journey to the Centre of the Earth," Jules Verne took readers on an amazing expedition into the heart of the planet. University of Michigan geologist Peter van Keken takes students and fellow scientists on equally marvelous tours---skittering around subduction zones and zooming in on earthquake activity. But instead of using picks, axes and ropes as Verne's characters did, van Keken employs virtual reality to explore Earth's inner reaches.

In an invited presentation to the American Geophysical Union meeting here Dec. 16, van Keken described how the use of virtual reality in the geological sciences can foster collaboration, enhance education and advance research into such complex processes as mixing behavior in Earth's mantle.

Van Keken and colleagues at U-M, the University of Minnesota and the University of Colorado at Boulder, use virtual reality tools to "get inside and walk around" three-dimensional representations of data, discovering new patterns and relationships. The researchers can literally immerse themselves in their data using facilities such as the U-M Media Union's CAVE, a 10 x 10 x 10-foot room in which full-color, computer generated stereoscopic images are projected onto the walls and floor. Users wear special goggles that make the data appear as three-dimensional features around the viewer. They can also use a joystick and a wand to move images around and point out interesting features.

Tuesday, November 21, 2000

Cave Paintings Revealed

An amateur archaeologist searching in a cave for ancient Native American art found charcoal drawings that date back more than 1,000 years. Dan Arnold made the discovery in 1998 but kept the find secret until officials could map the cave, photograph the art and construct an iron gate to prevent thieves or vandals from getting in. Authorities are not revealing the site, which is somewhere in southeastern Wisconsin. The artists are thought to be from today's Ho-Chunk tribe.

Source: Orlando Sentinel

Sunday, July 16, 2000

Mountain cave cure for asthma

Developers of a private hospital being built deep in a mountain cave are planning to target asthma sufferers with an unusual treatment.

Britain has the highest rate of asthma in the world, three times the European average, and at least 30% of British children are believed to be sufferers. Many experts blame the problem on house dust mites which are attracted by the fitted carpets present in most homes. Only about 10% of continental homes have fitted carpets.

The Pounds 10m hospital is being constructed from among 500km of linked chambers in a disused silver mine in the Austrian Tyrol town of Schwaz. It will market "speleotherapy", a treatment which some asthmatics believe has cured them.

The air found in deep caves is almost free of pollen, dust mites and the irritants which provoke an allergic reaction. It has high humidity and a warm temperature which helps to reduce the inflammation of the lining of the lungs.

Germany and eastern Europe all recognise speleotherapy, but is almost unknown in Britain.

Friday, December 15, 2000

Exploring Earth's Interior With Virtual Reality

Seismic Tomography
In "Journey to the Centre of the Earth," Jules Verne took readers on an amazing expedition into the heart of the planet. University of Michigan geologist Peter van Keken takes students and fellow scientists on equally marvelous tours---skittering around subduction zones and zooming in on earthquake activity. But instead of using picks, axes and ropes as Verne's characters did, van Keken employs virtual reality to explore Earth's inner reaches.

In an invited presentation to the American Geophysical Union meeting here Dec. 16, van Keken described how the use of virtual reality in the geological sciences can foster collaboration, enhance education and advance research into such complex processes as mixing behavior in Earth's mantle.

Van Keken and colleagues at U-M, the University of Minnesota and the University of Colorado at Boulder, use virtual reality tools to "get inside and walk around" three-dimensional representations of data, discovering new patterns and relationships. The researchers can literally immerse themselves in their data using facilities such as the U-M Media Union's CAVE, a 10 x 10 x 10-foot room in which full-color, computer generated stereoscopic images are projected onto the walls and floor. Users wear special goggles that make the data appear as three-dimensional features around the viewer. They can also use a joystick and a wand to move images around and point out interesting features.

Tuesday, November 21, 2000

Cave Paintings Revealed

An amateur archaeologist searching in a cave for ancient Native American art found charcoal drawings that date back more than 1,000 years. Dan Arnold made the discovery in 1998 but kept the find secret until officials could map the cave, photograph the art and construct an iron gate to prevent thieves or vandals from getting in. Authorities are not revealing the site, which is somewhere in southeastern Wisconsin. The artists are thought to be from today's Ho-Chunk tribe.

Source: Orlando Sentinel

Sunday, July 16, 2000

Mountain cave cure for asthma

Developers of a private hospital being built deep in a mountain cave are planning to target asthma sufferers with an unusual treatment.

Britain has the highest rate of asthma in the world, three times the European average, and at least 30% of British children are believed to be sufferers. Many experts blame the problem on house dust mites which are attracted by the fitted carpets present in most homes. Only about 10% of continental homes have fitted carpets.

The Pounds 10m hospital is being constructed from among 500km of linked chambers in a disused silver mine in the Austrian Tyrol town of Schwaz. It will market "speleotherapy", a treatment which some asthmatics believe has cured them.

The air found in deep caves is almost free of pollen, dust mites and the irritants which provoke an allergic reaction. It has high humidity and a warm temperature which helps to reduce the inflammation of the lining of the lungs.

Germany and eastern Europe all recognise speleotherapy, but is almost unknown in Britain.