CMU School of Drama


Thursday, March 03, 2022

Scientists Built an Augmented Reality Tool to Resurrect Extinct Animals for Museums

www.thedailybeast.com: Scientists are working on ways to bring extinct animals like the wooly mammoth or the passenger pigeon back from the dead. But these won’t be animals paraded around in a zoo—for the rest of us in the general public, we won’t be able to glimpse these ancient critters in the flesh. For something like that, we turn to one of the hottest buzzwords in tech right now: augmented reality.

6 comments:

Philip Winter said...

I love that scientists are using augmented reality more and more within museums especially to recreate extinct animals, as I believe this is such an incredible way of bringing living history to the public. For quite some time, I’ve worked within Living History programs at the Museum of the American Revolution, Fort Ticonderoga, and the New York Historical Society in which historic interpreters dress in historically correct garb so that the public can interact and understand how people lived at that point in time. Yet with VR becoming more prevalent everywhere I wonder if this could be implemented within historic museums enabling individuals to travel back to specific battles or even time periods. This article was so inspiring to read, because now I keep thinking about possible ways to implement a VR experience for the Museum of The American Revolution in which the public would be able to experience a battle during the American Revolution. If this tech is even possible to implement at a reasonable price, I need to investigate how it could be implemented in a historic film setting, because the possibilities are endless after that point.

Maureen Pace said...

Just from the title, this immediately sounded fascinating!! It literally says “resurrect extinct animals”-- I needed to know more. I think this article really highlights the bridges between art and design and science: they needed that collaboration to make the AR technology work, and for people to really experience seeing these animals in augmented reality. Seriously, this is absolutely amazing and I would love to experience this! I feel like often people don’t think about any connection between art and science but this is such a wonderful example of that, and I’m sure there have been and will be many more examples of these collaborations. “Hosting an American lion in one's own living room”, as the article says, just sounds almost magical to experience these designs and see animals that used to walk the Earth. I also think the accessibility of being able to access this technology from your home is great, and will allow more people to experience it. I can’t wait to hear more about it!

Hadley said...

I love this idea, and how incredibly open the creators are being with their wonderful new idea. The fact that virtual reality is becoming so common in the world is what is leading us to amazing new creations like these virtual animals. The problem that I am seeing in the world at large is the creators of new technology wanting to sell it at a high price for profit, or to keep it for a small group, or whatever it may be. But the way that Matt Davis is saying he wants to share his creation with museums, organizations, even video games is possibly my favorite part of this whole creation. Sharing the information and the technology freely leads to a much more accessible world for everyone. I wish so much that there was something like this in my local museums when I was a kid going on school trips. It would have made learning about these animals so much more interesting then, and will still capture my attention today.

Hikari said...

Projects like these gets me so excited about new technology and how we are enhancing it into science and world for better, rather than just entertainment purposes. I'm so intrigued by this concept. "Resurrecting" extinct animals shows how big of a challenge was accomplished, and how cool it is to be able to view these in a 3D realm using just our phones. I think that it was an incredibly smart marketing technique to make this filters as well for snapchat and instagram. This is a great way to spread awareness of the existence of these creatures, as well as to fund their project. These kinds of marketing avenues allow for the younger generations, who's world exposure is through their phones, to learn about new things while having fun with it. It is interesting to think that the museum experience is continuously changing, and I can't wait to see this in action in my life somewhere.

Selina Wang said...

I’ve always been fascinated by Extended Realities. Last semester I also read an article talking about the use of AR in museums and exhibitions, which I think it’s super beneficial for educational purposes but also would hugely elevate the guest experiences. The article mentions paleoart, which is a term I’ve never heard of before. But as the article mentions, the “scientific accuracy and potential to influence current and future paleontological research through artwork” is really powerful by visualising what extinct animals look like. When implemented into museums, being able to interact with the ‘objects’ definitely catches my attention more than objects that cannot move. I think it would also be cool if we can zoom in and out of the AR to look at the details that we will not necessarily be able to see when the object is exhibited in a glass container.

Lilian Nara Kim said...

I think something like this is so cool and something that is always changing as new technologies allow for cooler, more specific effects. One of the reasons I chose CMU was because of how connected it was to the growing technology industry. I think even things that seem separate from theatre and TV can fit in perfectly with it. This new planned one reminds of the Ronald Reagan Museum back in California. Not a big fan of Reagan, but I will not lie- His museum is super cool.
I love museums that are interactive and immersive. I think that aside from theatre, I really want to create something one day that is similar to this one, something that is more of an installation, and allows the audience to go inside, and become the performers. I also like the collaboration between the educational and the entertainment purpose of this design. I think it changes how the place is created, and it is interesting to see how purpose changes the decisions made with every choice.