Ultimate Human Body 2.0 allows users to study human body
By Zatni Arbi
JAKARTA (JP): First of all, three important points were missing when I discussed Pentium II last week. To begin with, as you must also know by now, Digital Corp has filed a lawsuit against Intel on the basis of patent infringement. In the computer industry, such an allegation is becoming daily news, and not surprisingly the hidden objective is to force the other party to enter a cross-licensing agreement or to boost revenue through royalties.
However, in general, industry analysts seem to agree that we should not allow technology advances to be stifled by too narrow an interpretation of patents. While a patent holder's rights to compensation always deserve full recognition, costly legal battles should not be allowed to threaten technological progress. As I have said in this column a couple of times, what we have now is the result of the accumulation of knowledge, expertise and technology. The Pentium II processor, or AMD K6, or the upcoming contender M2 from Cyrix for that matter, is built on the technology advances found in its predecessors.
Secondly, because of its design and hunger for power, you may have to wait a while before the mobile version of the Pentium II processor arrives. The third point -- perhaps a more important one -- is that Pentium II runs Windows 95 and DOS applications far better than Pentium Pro. This is what makes Pentium II a really exciting upgrade path. Pentium Pro-based systems will still be around and they will be used mainly as servers. In my test of the Pentium II system which I borrowed from Intel Indonesia, I installed WordStar 4.0 on the hard disk and it ran without a glitch, and at a truly blinding speed.
Incidentally, the system I tested came with a few test programs as well. One of them, The Ultimate Human Body 2.0, instantly became my favorite. It was a product of none other than DK, or Dorling and Kindersley. This week I want to explain my admiration for it to you.
Multimedia
DK has been releasing a good collection of CD-ROM multimedia reference and learning materials. If you want to learn more about human sexuality, for example, you can buy The Ultimate Sex Guide by Anne Hopper. It's the CD-ROM version of the same book with the same title by the same author. Although it is rather graphic in its presentation, it is scientific instead of entertaining in its approach.
For children, DK has a number of great products including My First Incredible Amazing Dictionary, Encyclopedia of Science, and History of the World. Some of these CD-ROMs can be found as extras in Creative Lab's SoundBlaster Discovery and other packages on the market. This particular product, The Ultimate Human Body 2.0, is really a big hit, however. It easily parallels the stellar Adams Streetwise Do-it-yourself Advertising that I reviewed in this column two weeks ago.
This impressive CD-ROM reference work, which has been around for some time, packs around 100,000 words of text, 170 animated graphics, 1,030 full color illustrations, 25 video sequences 1,500 sound clips, 745 screens and many pop-up boxes.
Biology
In his review of this CD-ROM, a PC World writer claimed that he would have become a brain surgeon by now if his biology class had been anywhere near the quality of this CD-ROM. I would simply say that my daughter would be able to grow up as a normal child if her biology class were 1,000 times as interesting as this CD- ROM.
Thanks to the power of the Pentium II on which I was playing around with it, the lessons were even more enjoyable to follow as screen redraws take no more than a split second. You would definitely want a sound card and a pair of decent speakers to get the background sound or listen to the narrated explanations.
Just insert the CD-ROM into the drive and sit back. The Autorun feature of Windows 95 will load the software and the introductory screen will feature a very interesting, at times scary, video. After a few seconds, the video will stop and you choose your next move. Will you explore the human body using a three-dimensional model? Because it is a 3-D object, you can turn it around, turn it upside down or tilt it to any angle you like so that you can inspect a human body extremely thoroughly. Or would you prefer to become a doctor and use the X-ray machine instead? And then, after a couple of hours, you can take on the quiz and see how much you have learned.
The parts
The Ultimate Human Body 2.0 consists of five sections, three of which are scanners that probe into different layers of the human body. The fourth is the On-line part that lets you connect to the program's Web site to get updated materials. The last section is the quiz.
The control buttons are very intuitive. The navigator tools are found on the top right hand corner of the screen. They allow you to go back to the 3-D lab, from which you can start over again. Or you can go straight to the Body Machine and learn about the individual systems that your body consists of. You can even turn on the system viewer on and raise it up and down to get to the part of the human body you want to know more about.
Alternatively you can jump straight into the topic you are interested in by opening the index. The help module provides clear guidance on how to use the program.
In the Body Machine section, you can learn what your body is made up of. I learned that 75 percent of a baby's body is water and that as it grows older, the percentage decreases. An adult's body contains 60 percent water, and an elderly person's 45 percent.
Or you can also learn what actually happens when you hear a sound. You'll be learning about the auricle, anvil and cochlea -- names that will impress the other guests at a birthday party. Next you can learn how your body turns its fuel (food etc.) into energy. If you want to know more, you can even learn about exercising and fitness as well as healthy eating habits. There are topics covering all systems in your body, including respiration, digestion and reproduction.
The video sequences are very interesting, too. Unfortunately, their size is limited to only 640 by 480 pixels, so if you have a higher resolution display, they will not cover the entire screen. Another thing that's also missing is the use of the right mouse button. It may be because this software has been designed for both Windows and Mac environments.
The Ultimate Human Body 2.0 is another example of what excellent learning materials we can provide our children with thanks to multimedia. It is certainly a must for youngsters who want to become physicians or nurses one day. It is also an excellent CD-ROM for those who just want to improve their general knowledge. It is, of course, a superb aid for learning the English terms of the parts of a human body because the narrators always pronounce the words clearly and accurately. At any rate, it is another demonstration of what our education system is missing.