BiochemAR: an augmented reality app for easy visualization of virtual 3D molecular models

As anyone who has attempted to assemble furniture using only a set of drawings for instructions can attest, the use of only 2D images to navigate a 3D object can be tricky and problematic. In the classroom, this problem becomes particularly relevant when trying to teach students about the importance of 3D shape in dictating the function of biological molecules, such as proteins and nucleic acids. However, the tools to visualize 3D renderings of biological molecules remains limited to a subset of programs with varying ranges of usability. AR technology, on the other hand, has the potential to change the way instructors and students show and interact with virtual 3D models of biological macromolecules. In AR, a video display shows an overlay of a virtual 3D object projected over the real world-- in the case of Pokemon, a Pikachu can pop up in the middle of the road that one ...