Things That Blow My Mind!

Google, how you never cease to amaze me! Just look at you -- just when I think you've settled down, content to simply provide me with e-mail and search -- you go and bust out this:

http://bodybrowser.googlelabs.com/
(you might need to download the latest version of your web browser, but if you like anatomy, I'd highly recommended it). Google Body Browser is basically Google Maps for the human body. You can view the body from any angle, in full 3D, and peel pack the anatomy, layer by layer. Just like on Google Maps, you can turn the labels on or off, so you can know what you're looking at....or simply explore our crazy anatomy. I've seen really good anatomy drawings before, but nothing has helped me understand how the body is put together like this. For instance, as you might remember, I injured my PCL in a crash. I knew what the PCL did, and roughly where it is in the knee, but until I explored the thing on Body Browser, I really didn't understand how it worked. I was able to click on the ligament (thus highlighting it and making everything else slightly transparent), and then move the body around in space so I got a full, 3D understanding of how the ligament interacts with the femur and the tibia. I felt the same sort of fascinated wonder as I did when touring the Bodies exhibit the last time it came to Seattle (and without the $20 entry fee).


Next up is the new Google Maps for Andriod phones. The buildings are in 3-friggin D! Granted, not every city has awesome 3D vector-based buildings (Santa Fe, with it's towering 5-story tall El Dorado Hotel, didn't make the cut), but for the cities that do have it -- it's unreal. Check it: