Sure sure, they are saying it’s a great breakthrough for medicine, surgery, aviation and all that serious stuff, but imagine the extremely cool applications of an updatable holographic display in multimedia and marketing. Picture a large, dynamic, three-dimensional product display when shopping or a wicked realistic display for the fans in concerts. What about in gaming? Radical. So, what’s the deal?

Researchers at the University of Arizona have broken a technological barrier by making three-dimensional holographic displays that can be erased and rewritten in minutes. The holographic displays – which are viewed without special eyewear – are the first updatable three-dimensional displays with memory ever to be developed, making them ideal tools for medical, industrial and military applications that require “situational awareness.”

“This is a new type of device, nothing like the tiny hologram of a dove on your credit card,” UA optical sciences professor Nasser Peyghambarian said. “The hologram on your credit card is printed permanently. You cannot erase the image and replace it with an entirely new three-dimensional picture.”

Dynamic hologram displays could be made into devices that help surgeons track progress during lengthy and complex brain surgeries, show airline or fighter pilots any hazards within their entire surrounding airspace, or give emergency response teams nearly real-time views of fast-changing flood situations or traffic problems, for example.