 | chemistry activities in second life
Second Life® is a good platform for communication, collaboration, and 3D data visualization. Jean-Claude Bradley of Drexel and myself have created a number of chemistry tools and exhibits in Second Life. Hiro's molecule rezzer I built my molecule rezzer as a project to help me learn LSL. The rezzer is available as opensledware from onrez. Using my molecule rezzer, Jean-Claude Bradley and I have demonstrated molecule docking in Second Life (a molecule actually moving into the binding pocket of the targeted enzyme) and chemical reactions in Second Life (the first step in the UGI reaction controlled via chat). Orac My molecule rezzer requires you to convert the molecule data into hyperchem (.hin) format via openbabel and then copy and paste it into a notecard inside the rezzer. Though not difficult, it takes a few minutes to go through the process. So I decided to make an Orac. With Orac, you simply type a SMILES, InChI or InChIKey into chat and Orac rezzes the 3D minimized structure right in front of you. The size of molecule is now only restricted by Second Life's built in prim limit. Orac has had a couple of blog posts written about him: Useful Chem, Chemspider. 3D Periodic Table I was sponsored by the American Chemical Society to build a 3D periodic table in Second Life. You can pick one up from the freebie wall in the HQ on ACS Island SLurl. Current Projects We are working on a couple of things that we plan to present at the next ACS meeting in Philadelphia:
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more chemistry activities My molecule rezzers rez stick-and-ball molecules (including double and triple bonds) so they are not the best tools for visualizing proteins in Second Life. Peter Miller (Graham Mills in SL) has created a protein rezzing toolkit based upon an open source script by Troy McConaghy (Troy Mcluhan in SL) and has created complete enzymes in Second Life. Chemistry Education in Second Life Jean-Claude has also been busy pioneering using Second Life in chemistry education, including but not limited to running organic chemistry quizzes (work with Desiderian Stockton and Eloise Pasteur), involving students in his research, and demonstrating chirality. Joan Slonczewski (Andra Renard) and Daniel Barich (Daniel Patterson) have created an interactive display that helps students identify amino acid residues in proteins called Amino World SLurl. Chemistry Locations To find molecules in Second Life try the Molecules Wiki. If you want to experiment using Second Life for chemistry yourself, you'll need some land. Generously, land is available for free for science related builds on Second Nature (contact Joanna Scott - Joanna Wombat in SL) and free for ACS members on ACS Island (contact Kate Sellar - Finola Graves in SL) as part of their excellent resident chemist program. This program allows chemists to form a community of chemists in Second Life by letting them build collaborative skylabs. Excellent work has already been done by Joan Slonczewski (Andra Renard in SL), Gus Rosania (Caia Alter in SL), and Juan Hinestroza (Diomedez Delpiaz in SL). Using Second Life to Teach Chemistry - Jean-Claude Bradley |