Where can Mississippi students explore the beginnings of human life, looking at an early primate skull from every imaginable angle? Where can they see close-up details of a barrette that controlled an ancient hairdo?
Thanks to a series of projects developed by the university, K-12 students with Internet access can be as close to the distant past as their own computers.
The School of Architecture, in cooperation with the Smithsonian Institution, has developed a World Wide Web site with 3-D images that let students become "digital Darwins," said research scientist Charles Calvo.
By accessing the Digital Darwins Research Project, students may download quick-time virtual reality files of a jaw and tools from some of the earliest human ancestors, skulls and teeth of early and modern primates, or a variety of objects dating from the Iron Age.
The site-accessed at http://www.digitaldarwins.sarc.msstate.edu-is one of several projects in which the architecture school's Digital Research and Imaging Laboratory is working to bring museum artifacts to life.
Support has been provided by Silicon Graphics, Apple Computers, and the Immersion Corp. of Dallas, among others.
Working with the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, Calvo and two Mississippi State students have created a "virtual" display of artifacts that focus on the wonders of natural history.
This World Wide Web version of Alumnus was marked up by Chris Brown <brownc@ur.msstate.edu>
For information about Mississippi State University, contact msuinfo@ur.msstate.edu.
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