“Energetic coalescence”, an embodied experience which enables participants to include multiple others in their self-representation
To read more, check out the article “Group VR experiences can produce ego attenuation and connectedness comparable to psychedelics” available open access at www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-12637-z
Read all about our latest work working with a global network of citizen scientists to investigate the use of VR to elicit distributed mystical-type experiences which are comparable to pyschedelics! https://arxiv.org/abs/2105.07796
Excited about the publication of a recent paper showing how our open source interactive molecular dynamics in virtual reality (iMD-VR) program Narupa can be used to investigate proteins which are relevant to the ongoing COVID pandemic. In the paper, we looked at the main protease (Mpro) of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which is one focus of drug development efforts for COVID-19. The paper shows that iMD-VR offers a useful and effective tool for creating Mpro complexes in a physically rigorous and flexible way. Applying the iMD-VR approach to both an Mpro inhibitor and an oligopeptide substrate, we show that iMD-VR gives models in agreement with experimentally observed (crystal) structures. The docked structures were tested in MD simulations and found to be stable.
This Green Tara was painted as a lockdown meditation during spring/summer 2020.
Tārā is a buddha manifestation embodying the qualities of feminine energy within the universe. She offers warmth, compassion, and relief from suffering. Like a mother for her children, she engenders, nourishes, and smiles at the vitality of creation. In her Green form, Tārā offers protection from the variety of unfortunate circumstances encountered by beings trapped in cyclic existence. She is characterized by wind energy, enabling her to act quickly to ease the suffering of her children.
We’ve just published a paper describing the use of interactive molecular dynamics in virtual reality (iMD-VR) for carrying out flexible protein-ligand docking, demonstrated through experiments carried out docking drug molecules into the binding pockets of trypsin, neuraminidase, and HIV-1 protease.
We’re hard at work finalizing Narupa2, a massive rewrite of the Narupa VR framework which is pythonic on the back-end, and therefore should be much more customizable by our scientific colleagues. meanwhile enjoy some nice videos!