After Facebook changed its name to Meta and revealed plans to create the metaverse, the term became the most popular one on the internet in 2021 a collection of linked digital areas that enable actions not possible in the real world.
Since then, the metaverse has been referred to by many different names, including the future of the internet. a vague idea that nobody truly wants.
Metaverse as a Catalyst for Scientific Innovation and Collaboration
The metaverse is something else entirely for Diego Gómez-Zará, an assistant professor in the University of Notre Dame’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering: “it is a tool for better science.”
The metaverse is a virtual environment where users can interact in a three-dimensional environment and take actions that affect the real world, according to co-authors Peter Schiffer (Department of Applied Physics and Department of Physics, Yale University) and Dashun Wang (McCormick School of Engineering, Northwestern University).
According to the researchers, there are four key ways that the metaverse can advance science.
First, it might lower barriers and increase accessibility to science. Gómez-Zará argues that we don’t need to make predictions about the far-off future in order to comprehend these changes.
“We can instead highlight the ways in which scientists have already started utilizing virtual environments in their study,” according to Gómez-Zará.
For instance, researchers at the University College London School of Pharmacy have created a digital reproduction of their lab that can be toured in virtual reality.
This digital copy enables scientists from multiple locations to cooperate, meet, and make decisions about how to forward a research endeavor.
Navigating Challenges of Ownership and Privacy in Virtual Labs
Similar to this, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s virtual laboratory training trains young scientists in numerous locations how to recognize a lab’s components and even carry out emergency measures.
The use of virtual reality still faces obstacles. While being more affordable, virtual reality goggles and related technology still require a sizable investment.
Who owns the metaverse is a related but separate problem. The metaverse is currently dominated by a small number of tech firms, but according to Gómez-Zará, there have been calls for government organizations and others who fund research to contribute to the creation of an open, public metaverse.