biological cells

Researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed CraftCells, a project that allows users to explore 3D models of biological cells within Minecraft. The project includes models of a yeast cell, healthy and cancerous epithelial cells, and a minimally viable bacterial cell. Users can interact with these models using modified Minecraft tools, including a rollercoaster ride inside a bacterial cell. The 3D representations help illustrate differences between healthy and cancerous cells, such as the elongated shape and enlarged nucleoli of cancer cells. The researchers published an article on CraftCells as an educational tool and made the Minecraft files available on GitHub for public access.