(((Okay, that's just seriously weird. Especially the graphics.
Great day for computational self-replicating spimed bacteria, folks.)))
Link: Building Bacteria in Second Life at +K.
"So the universe of spimes is an informational universe. The logical first step in creating spimes is creating them as pure information.
"Where better to do it than Second Life, the online world, a system we can use to understand the operation of digital objects. Second Life is an environment where you can make things. Every object is made by users. It isn’t a narrative experience like World of Warcraft.
"And every object in the virtual world can have a script attached to it. The first bit of Second Life hacking Matt did (with nice video) was to take the API from Flickr and feed it onto the surface of objects in Second Life. He took data from the 2D web and put it into the 3D virtual world. You could call up a subject or object through a Flickr tag and have the most recent picture projected onto a virtual object.
"Matt was then contacted by the esteemed Nature Publishing Group to conceptualize and derive centers of sociality for the scientists in their readership. The goal was to start and maintain conversations amongst scientists. Every scientist has seen a 3D visualization of a cell, but none have been able sit in them and walk around them."
