Simulating an amazing array of natural environments and phenomena, this dynamic playspace turns ordinary hand-sculpted sand into vividly colorful landscapes in the blink of an eye.

A real and working augmented reality sandbox, the system is designed to help educate students about earth sciences with a uniquely responsive and intuitive interface.

A team of data visualization and earth sciences experts, mainly from the University of California, created the setup using a Microsoft Kinect camera coupled with topographic visualization software and a 3D data projector.

From rough prototypes to its present state, the project has come a long way in terms of the level of rendering detail and response speed.

Tapping into a familiar form of childhood play, the project “allows users to create topography models by shaping real sand, which is then augmented in real time by an elevation color map, topographic contour lines, and simulated water. The system teaches geographic, geologic, and hydrologic concepts such as how to read a topography map, the meaning of contour lines, watersheds, catchment areas, levees [and more].”

Of course, one can imagine an array of applications of this technology beyond classrooms and science museums, from Minecraft-style, construction-centric games to simulators and modeling tools for landscape architects and urban designers.

More about this amazing project: “UC Davis’ W.M. Keck Center for Active Visualization in the Earth Sciences (KeckCAVES), together with the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center, Lawrence Hall of Science, and ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center, is involved in an NSF-funded project on informal science education for freshwater lake and watershed science. The sandbox hardware was built by project specialist Peter Gold of the UC Davis Department of Geology. The driving software is based on the Vrui VR development toolkit and the Kinect 3D video processing framework, and is available for download under the GNU General Public License.”

Constructing a research station in Antarctica means thinking outside the box-like building but not TOO far outside… Great Scott it’s COLD out there!

USA: Palmer Station

(images via: Christopher Michel and WHOI)

Built in 1968 on Anvers Island, Palmer Station is the only American antarctic base located north of the Antarctic Circle. The base’s activities focus on the study of marine life and most projects are seasonal in nature: the station’s resident population averages around 40 in summer but drops to 15-20 in winter.

(image via: NASA)

But enough about the station, check out the photo above! In November of 2009, red-parka’d base personnel got together to send a friendly greeting to NASA’s DC-8 flying science laboratory flying overhead.

Ukraine: Vernadsky Research Base

(images via: EYOS Expeditions, Wikipedia/Lewnwdc77 and Around This World)

Ukraine didn’t build the Vernadsky Research Base; the former Faraday Station on Winter Island was purchased from Great Britain in 1996 for the bargain price of one pound. The station’s main claim to fame is its bar, said to be the southernmost such establishment on earth, where thirsty and/or bored patrons can pay $3 a shot for vodka brewed on-site.

(image via: Rachel Lea Fox)

Now operated by the National Antarctic Scientific Center of Ukraine, the Vernadsky Station consists of nine buildings and can house up to 15 staff members. Full credit to Flickr user Rachel Lea Fox for the image above. Time for a new flag? Er, I wasn’t asking you, President Putin.

Norway: Troll Research Station

(images via: Norwegian Polar Institute, Wikipedia/Islarsh and Reuters, Alister Doyle)

Constructed in 1990 and expanded 15 years later, Troll Station is Norway’s only year-round antarctic science base… problem? The Norwegian Polar Institute operates 8-person capacity Troll Station, which is located in the Norwegian antarctic dependency of Queen Maud Land. Troll Station is built on a bare rock outcrop poking through the ice cap and since the region is considered to be a “desert” in meteorological terms, heavy snowfalls and wind-blown drifting are not major concerns.

(image via: Epoch Times/Heiko Junge/AFP)

As is the case with all antarctic research stations, accommodations at Troll Station are both limited and spartan… even if you’re Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.

Belgium: Princess Elisabeth Antarctica Research Station

(images via: Treehugger, International Polar Foundation and Architects24)

Belgium’s futuristic Princess Elisabeth Antarctica Research Station opened in February of 2009 and claims to be “the world’s first zero emission polar research station.” The 16-person capacity station draws electric power from solar panels supplemented by a network of nine wind turbines.

(image via: IRM)

Though sunlight is unavailable for months at a stretch, Princess Elisabeth Antarctica Research Station’s location backing onto the rocky Utsteinen Ridge in Queen Maud Land exposes it to howling gales measured at up to 300 kph (190 mph). Calmer days are much appreciated by station staff. He’s rollin’, don’t be hatin’.

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Home Ice 12 International Antarctic Research Stations

Looking as if it’s being pushed up out of the ground it stands upon – or perhaps sinking back into the earth – the Lanyang Museum in Yilan County, Taiwan echoes the sharpness and solidity of the rock formations with which it is surrounded. Designed by Artech Architects, the museum feels like a natural extension of the land, yet maintains a sense of drama.

Located near the Wushih Port, a once-busy harbor that has now turned into wetlands, the Lanyang Museum is a tribute to the area’s past and present. Outside, the museum takes inspiration from the geological formations of the site. Inside, it contains exhibits that reflect the area’s cultural history.

Made of granite and cast aluminum panels, the exterior of the building mimics the reef’s natural erosion process as it is changes with exposure to the weather, and subtly evokes the cuesta ridges of the landscape. Cuesta ridges are formed when sedimentary rock strata tilt over time, exposing the edges of each layer. The way the building emerges from the land is a direct representation of this kind of formation.

Approaching the museum, visitors may have a sense that when they walk inside, everything will be tilted. Passing through the large glass volume, which serves as a day-lit lobby and restaurant area, they enter the deeper, more solid volumes, which give the sense of going underground. Voids located within this exhibit area offer lots more daylight and another chance to get a view of the nearby Turtle Mountain Island.

Skull Rock, a naturally weathered granite rock formation located in California’s Joshua Tree National Park, stares out across an otherworldly landscape of shattered boulders, tumbling tumbleweeds and eerily twisted Joshua trees. These 13 spook-tacular views of Skull Rock highlight the strange anthropomorphic symmetry that causes stone to resemble bone.

(images via: Wallpapers-s and 1904 Photography)

Joshua Tree National Park was established in 1994 though the area had been designated a U.S. National Monument since 1936. Located in southeastern California, “JTree” (as the locals like to call it) spreads over parts of Riverside and San Bernardino counties and includes portions of two separate deserts, the Little San Bernardino Mountains, and part of the San Andreas Fault.

(images via: The Four Seasons, Douglas Dolde and Art In Nature)

The park boasts several unique distinguishing features, mainly many Joshua Trees (Yucca brevifolia) and weirdly rounded rock formations that are popular with hikers and rock climbers. Some of these odd outcrops have been given names based on their outward appearance, such as Cap Rock (above top), Old Woman Rock (above left) and the Giant Marbles (above right).

(images via: Thomas J Sebourn and Outdoors Webshots)

Skull Rock is one of the easier noteworthy rock formations to get to, being that it’s located at the east end of the Jumbo Rocks campground. Not that there’s anything wrong with an extended hike but families, the elderly and those suffering from disabilities will welcome the somewhat surprising convenience.

(image via: Pashnit Motorcycle Forum)

Drivers entering Joshua Tree National Park along Park Blvd. can see Skull Rock from the road and once parked, the feature is just a few steps away.

(images via: Corbis Images and Ethan Meleg)

Most of the rock formations in the park are granite that solidified out of a molten state over 80 million years ago. Since that time, they have been slowly eroding due to the action of percolating groundwater at first; then wind and rain once the granite became exposed to surface weathering.

(images via: WebEcoist)

Considering the hardness of granite and the arid conditions typical of the region, this is a very long, exceedingly incremental process. In contrast, the weathering of the much softer sandstone in places like Arches National Park (above) is much faster, geologically speaking – as is their inevitable demise.

(image via: Zieglers Rock the Globe)

The granite that makes up Skull Rock and other similar formations in Joshua Tree National Park appears smooth and rounded from a distance but is actually rough to the touch; a by-product of non-glacial weathering combined with nature’s own sand-blasting.

(images via: Samwedin and DesertNana)

By comparison, granite scoured by glaciers or tumbled in rivers and streams presents a much “cleaner” face as the various mineral crystals have been worn flat. This benefits formations such as Skull Rock since they can survive a much greater amount of wear & tear brought about by human activity.

(images via: Corrina Corrina and Della Huff)

Skull Rock is a favorite subject for photographers both amateur and professional, and due to the changing interplay of sun and shadow around the formation’s “eye sockets” and other skull-acious features it’s hard to take the same picture twice. Even at the height of the day when shadows are at their minimum (above, top), the scene takes on an appearance of timeless desolation with only patches of scrub or the occasional skittering lizard to break the visual spell.

(image via: Ashley Tarr)

It’s at dawn or dusk – especially dusk – that Skull Rock takes on an ominous atmosphere, a certain ancient presence, a sense of impending doom… at least that’s what the minds of the more imaginative among us might project.

(images via: Thomas J Sebourn)

Add some creative accessory lighting, adjust the exposure and maybe even tweak the image with Photoshop and Skull Rock really, well, rocks! The above photos taken by Thomas J. Sebourn are perhaps the very best of their kind, endowing Skull Rock with a delightfully disturbing aura of benevolence and, er, badassness, to coin a word. One can easily imagine pre-Columbian tribes conducting ritual sacrifices to the Great Skull Spirit by the light of the moon!

(images via: Jeffrey Sullivan and Juli)

Jeffrey Sullivan and Juli are two other photographers who have enhanced Skull Rock’s chilling visage with some skillful light painting and image processing. The two photos above illustrate two different sides of the formation – not right or left, but good and evil.

(images via: Fiddybobiddyfiddy)

“To blithely go where no one has gone before…” Combine Skull Rock, Star Trek, and Kenner’s 1972 big-eyed, big-headed Blythe doll and you’re pushing awesomeness far beyond the final frontier. Blythe has enjoyed a renaissance in the past few years as Japanese toymaker Takara Tomy has re-issued the doll to the delight of hobbyists everywhere… even in California’s high desert.

(images via: Fiddybobiddyfiddy)

The hobbyist photographer who took the above images meticulously outfitted Blythe in classic Star Trek TOS regalia including a Federation communicator badge and a tricorder. As for the choice of a red uniform… well, we all know what THAT means.

(images via: Chris Mockford)

The so-called “Infinite Monkey Theorem” posits that a monkey typing away randomly on a typewriter (or keyboard) for infinity will, sooner or later, type out the complete works of Shakespeare. This is just a theory, of course, because monkeys don’t live an infinite number of years.

A variation on the concept does exist, however, in the form of Skull Rock. Randomly acting forces of nature have, over the past 80-odd million years, managed to carve out a reasonable representation of a human skull from a massive congealed bolus of volcanic granite. Not too shabby, especially considering that most of the carving occurred before the first recognizable human walked the Earth. Imagine what it’ll look like in another 80 million years… Nature, you really scary!