MolecularWebXR: Multiuser discussions about chemistry and biology in immersive and inclusive VR

Abstract

MolecularWebXR is a new website for education, science communication and scientific peer discussion in chemistry and biology, based on modern web-based Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). With no installs as it is all web-served, MolecularWebXR enables multiple users to simultaneously explore, communicate and discuss concepts about chemistry and biology in immersive 3D environments, by manipulating and passing around objects with their bare hands and pointing at different elements with natural hand gestures. User may either be present in the same real space or distributed around the world, in the latter case talking naturally with each other thanks to built-in audio features. Although MolecularWebXR is most immersive when running in the web browsers of high-end AR/VR headsets, its WebXR core also allows participation by users with consumer devices such as smartphones, possibly inserted into cardboard goggles for deeper immersivity, or even in computers and tablets. MolecularWebXR comes with preset VR rooms that cover topics from general, inorganic and organic chemistry, biophysics and structural biology, and general biology; besides, new content can be added at will through moleculARwebs PDB2AR tool or by contacting the lead authors. We verified MolecularWebXRs ease of use and versatility by people aged 12-80 years old in entirely virtual sessions or in mixed real-virtual sessions at various science outreach events, in courses at the bachelor, masters and early doctoral levels, in scientific collaborations, and in conference lectures. MolecularWebXR is available for free use without registration at https://molecularwebxr.org, and a blog post version of this preprint with embedded videos is available at https://go.epfl.ch/molecularwebxr-blog-post.