Many students experience entire academic careers in chemistry primarily through pen and paper: interacting with their subject matter through written symbols, abbreviations, and calculations. This linear work makes it difficult to recall that chemistry pertains to physical matter that exists in three dimensions. The relatively new field of DNA Origami explores how the folds, twists, and turns of a particular chemical compound determine, in part, its function. Associate Professor Divita Mathur (Chemistry, CAS) wanted to make a tool in XR that allowed her students to experience the physical dimension of chemistry, by engaging with it physically and seeing the shape in true 3D.

During her fellowship year at the IC, Mathur created ChiReality, an XR app that allows students to explore aspects firsthand, such as chirality (the direction something twists, i.e., its ‘handedness’). In the first module, students walk through a field of exaggerated helices depicted as bamboo stalks.