In the article from the New York Times, “Molecular Animation: Where Cinema and Biology Meet,” many topics are discussed that are growing in interest in the world today. Mainly, the article talks about how the advances in the technology in the field of movies and cinematography are helping advance the knowledge of biology by making it possible for animated representations of complex topics that we couldn’t really comprehend before. Building on decades of research, scientists and animators are now collaborating to work on how to sufficiently represent these biological secrets that have been explained so many times without people being able to fully grasp the topic. One scientist who has joined the field recently, Dr. Iwasa, mentioned that it wasn’t enough to merely think about how the molecule moved in words, but to actually see the molecule moving and forming would give her a whole new sense of knowledge. Another issue that animation is confronting is whether or not the explanations that we have come up with for many topics are even realistic and could actually be done. The animation clears all that up because everything you need to see is happening right there in front of your eyes and not in a lab on a Petri dish which cannot be seen by the naked eye.
The article is significant because the animation can explain so many topics that were dubbed unreachable. The animation shows us whether every explanation or theory we have ever come up with as a race is plausible or even possible in the world we live in. the only thing that the animation can do is help us out. It will help us gain knowledge in every field of science because everything is easier when you’re seeing it visually rather than reading it out of a book or hearing it from someone else. Animation is going to revolutionize science the same way it did movies.
I really liked how this article explained how science can be related to movies and how an advancement in the technology for both has helped the other. Also, I enjoyed learning about how animation is going to help our scientists and students at every school learn these topics so much easier. The article was a very informative and interesting.
Olsen, Erik, “Molecular Animation: Where Cinema and Biology Meet.” New York Times. 15 Nov 2010.
posted for Max Boyd
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In the article “Where Cinema and Biology Meet,” scientist Robert A. Lue is working on creating films that show the inner machinery of cells. These animations are starting a new field, molecular animation. I thought it was interesting in that they were making actual movies about the workings of cells; this is a fascinating new field for both filmmaking and science. I also liked the pictures included with the article, as this helped to visualize the animations being used for the films. The idea that what we know about cells may be proven wrong by this field is an interesting thought, so I hope to learn more about this. This may be a good way to bring science to life.
Some aspects of this review could have been improved. I felt that the paragraph explaining the significance of this article was rather short, and it did not make clear the importance of this technology. I would have also appreciated an explanation of the technology involved in this science to make the descriptions more clear such as, “How sophisticated is this technology and what are the costs involved in creating this project?”
This technology is relevant because if our knowledge of cells turns out to be incorrect, this technology could uncover a major scientific discovery. It would also be interesting if this technology was used to learn more about cells and how they function. It could also identify abnormal cell function and how this leads to disease processes such as cancer (as an example).
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