Unlike WoW, the virtual world of Second Life is almost entirely user generated. By making use of a specially tailored scripting language, the ‘residents’ of Second Life can make an unlimited number of modifications to their environment. It was this degree of freedom that drew Clark to Second Life as a virtual world fit for pedagogy, and after some short scripting tutorials she set about making the community’s first genetics lab: Genome Island.
Today, visitors to Genome Island will find a beautiful virtual genetics laboratory, packed full of dozens of genetic simulation experiments and rendered with an astonishing attention to aesthetic detail. They can stroll through the Genome Garden or dine in the Chromosome Cafe, yet when Clark was first starting her pet project in 2005, Genome Island was little more than an interactive cell model housed in a crude rendition of St. Thomas’ Abbey, the old haunting grounds of renowned geneticist Gregor Mendel.

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