Google Maps zooms way in, used to study human body
The technology that fuels Google Maps is now being used to study the human body in extreme close-ups, according to The Washington Post.
Stanford and Brown Universities in partnership with the University of New South Wales have begun using Google Map’s algorithms to create layered images of the human body that can be zoomed in as close as mere nanometers.
The technology would allow scientists to get extremely close-up views of internal organs, bones and cells, and is currently being used to determine the correlation between a cell’s behavior and the development of osteoporosis.
According to Knoth Tate, one of the project’s leaders, this advance allows scientists to compress a quarter of a century of research into a matter of weeks.
New York University has also experimented with the technology, giving medical students the opportunity to digitally study cells.