Boston.com reports: "At first glance, the screen dominating a front room at the Tufts University School of Engineering seems nothing more than an out-sized version of the high-definition TVs found in any sports bar or airport lounge.

But when Lionel Zupan, the school"s associate director for research technology, fires up the new "VisWall," you get more than close-ups of some sweaty-browed pitcher pondering whether to hurl a sizzler or a sinker.

The $350,000 scientific display device and its twin backscreen projectors are packed with software designed to impart three-dimensional form and even "feel" to virtual objects, whether a string of molecules seeming to swirl in mid-air, a hovering swath of DNA, or a simulated diseased organ about to be removed."