PSC Debuts Dynamic Science Tool

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The Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center has debuted a new dynamic science teaching tool geared towards high school and undergraduate students.  The new tool, Big Numbers, is the latest instructional product from the National Resource for Biomedical Supercomputing [NRBSC] Computational Modules in Science Teaching [CMIST] project.  The new movie will be introduced by Joel Stiles, NRBSC director and associate professor of biological sciences at CMU, in Washington, DC on May 2.

In “Big Numbers,” students “see” carbon, oxygen and hydrogen atoms in water and glucose molecules. They watch red-blood cells passing through a vessel while discovering that each of these cells can hold about three-trillion water molecules. They see supercomputer simulations of realistic atomic sizes, covalent bonds, hydrogen bonds, and other details of molecular structure and motion (molecular dynamics), before time and space leap ahead to illustrate Brownian movements of molecules on cellular and human scales.

I took a look at the CMIST movies, including “Big Numbers”, and was definitely impressed.  Take a look for yourself at the CMIST website here.