Google has just soft-launched its latest browser experiment, the Google Body Browser, which is basically Google Earth for the human body. Google published the Body Browser as an in-browser tool. It uses the HTML5 Canvas element and does not require Flash, Java or other graphical plugins to run.

"Body Browser is a detailed 3D model of the human body," Google said in an introduction. "You can peel back anatomical layers, zoom in, and navigate to parts that interest you. Click to identify anatomy, or search for muscles, organs, bones and more." 

The Body Browser requires a browser, such as the beta version of Chrome, with WebGL. WebGL, a 3D graphics API that can be run directly within the browser, was implemented in the Chrome beta that was launched earlier this week. WebGL is a cross-platform low-level 3D graphics API that is designed to bring plugin-free 3D to the web.

If you visit bodybrowser.googlelabs.com in a supported web browser, you'll get a three-dimensional layered model of the human anatomy that you can zoom in on, rotate and search. WebGL support hasn't hit mainstream browsers, but the beta versions of Google Chrome, Safari and Firefox all support it.

Like the Google Sky Map for Android, users can search for individual organs, or "peel back" and expose different systems, such as the skeleton and internal organs. The 3D model, which is female, can also be rotated and zoomed in and out.

Once you've got a compatible browser, visiting the Body Browser home page shows off the human body. You can adjust the various layers of skin, muscles, tissues and the skeletal system. What's really cool is that if you type in an organ or bone or ventricle system, you are taken directly to that area in the anatomy, zoomed in. You can turn labels on or off and the app supports multitouch so users of trackpads (Magic or otherwise) or multi-touch mice can zoom in with ease.

Click Here to use the Body Browser: Google's comments page also noted problems