Scientists get all the cool toys. Not only do they get to play with a world-destroying supercollider, but now the labcoat set has themselves a giant virtual reality chamber with more speakers and screens than an audiophile’s wet dreams.

It’s called the AlloSphere, and the good folks at the University of California use the all-encompassing sensory overload device to step inside their data and see the information in a whole new way.

The biggest problem with modern science isn’t collecting data, but figuring out what it means. Scientists can gather so much information that they become lost in it, unable to see patterns or that one little number that stands out from all the rest. Displaying the data in new ways, such to use all the senses, helps to overcome this challenge.

Scientific American has the story.