Virtual Environment News

April 18, 2024

Top Headlines

Star Trek's Holodeck Recreated Using ChatGPT and Video Game Assets

Apr. 11, 2024 — Star Trek's Holodeck is no longer just science fiction. Using AI, engineers have created a tool that can generate 3D environments, prompted by everyday ...

Waterproof 'E-Glove' Could Help Scuba Divers Communicate

Apr. 10, 2024 — When scuba divers need to say 'I'm okay' or 'Shark!' to their dive partners, they use hand signals to communicate visually. But sometimes these movements are difficult to see. Now, researchers have constructed a waterproof 'e-glove' that wirelessly ...

Holographic Message Encoded in Simple Plastic

Mar. 18, 2024 — Important data can be stored and concealed quite easily in ordinary plastic using 3D printers and terahertz radiation, scientists show. Holography can be done quite easily: A 3D printer can be used to produce a panel from normal plastic in which a ...

Straightening Teeth? AI Can Help

Mar. 13, 2024 — A new tool will help orthodontists correctly fit braces onto teeth. Using artificial intelligence and virtual patients, the tool predicts how teeth will move, so as to ensure that braces are neither too loose nor too ...

Latest Headlines

updated 10:49pm EDT

An Innovative Mixed Light Field Technique for Immersive Projection Mapping

Mar. 18, 2024 — A novel mixed light field technique that utilizes a mix of ray-controlled ambient lighting with projection mapping (PM) to obtain PM in bright surroundings has been developed by scientists. This ...

Pairing Crypto Mining With Green Hydrogen Offers Clean Energy Boost

Mar. 25, 2024 — Pairing cryptocurrency mining -- notable for its outsize consumption of carbon-based fuel -- with green hydrogen could provide the foundation for wider deployment of renewable energy, such as solar ...

Virtual Reality Better Than Video for Evoking Fear, Spurring Climate Action

Mar. 18, 2024 — Depicting worst-case climate scenarios like expanding deserts and dying coral reefs may better motivate people to support environmental policies when delivered via virtual reality, according to a ...

Opening New Doors in the VR World, Literally

Mar. 13, 2024 — Recreating the action of opening doors in the virtual world requires engineering ways in which to provide the equivalent haptic feedback and steer users away from walls in the real world. A research ...

Natural History Specimens Have Never Been So Accessible

Mar. 11, 2024 — Researchers have painstakingly taken computed topography (CT) scans of more than 13,000 individual specimens to create 3D images of more than half of all the world's animal groups, including mammals, ...

Plasma Scientists Develop Computer Programs That Could Reduce the Cost of Microchips and Stimulate American Manufacturing

Feb. 20, 2024 — Fashioned from the same element found in sand and covered by intricate patterns, microchips power smartphones, augment appliances and aid the ...

Angle-Dependent Holograms Made Possible by Metasurfaces

Feb. 20, 2024 — Scientists unveil metasurface technology, allowing for angle-dependent ...

An Innovative Wearable Device for Fashionable Personal Thermal Comfort

Feb. 15, 2024 — Traditional wearable thermal control devices use bulky and noisy components. New advancements such as the small electrohydrodynamic pump and soft tubes offer a promising avenue for such devices. ...

Innovations in Depth from Focus/defocus Pave the Way to More Capable Computer Vision Systems

Feb. 9, 2024 — In an image, estimating the distance between objects and the camera by using the blur in the images as clue, also known as depth from focus/defocus, ...

Not Only in Information Technology: Restart Also Works in Chemical Simulations

Feb. 12, 2024 — Scientists have discovered that a known practice in information technology can also be applied to chemistry. Researchers found that to enhance the ...

Why Insects Navigate More Efficiently Than Robots

Feb. 12, 2024 — Engineers have studied how insects navigate, for the purpose of developing energy-efficient ...

One Person Can Supervise 'Swarm' of 100 Unmanned Autonomous Vehicles

Feb. 5, 2024 — Research involving has shown that a 'swarm' of more than 100 autonomous ground and aerial robots can be supervised by one person without subjecting the individual to an undue ...

Bringing Together Real-World Sensors and VR to Improve Building Maintenance

Jan. 31, 2024 — A new system that brings together real-world sensing and virtual reality would make it easier for building maintenance personnel to identify and fix issues in commercial buildings that are in ...

Gravity Helps Show Strong Force Strength in the Proton

Jan. 23, 2024 — New research conducted by nuclear physicists is using a method that connects theories of gravitation to interactions among the smallest particles of matter. The result is insight into the strong ...

'Smart Glove' Can Boost Hand Mobility of Stroke Patients

Jan. 16, 2024 — This month, a group of stroke survivors in British Columbia will test a new technology designed to aid their recovery, and ultimately restore use of their limbs and hands. Participants will wear a ...

Artificial Intelligence Helps Unlock Advances in Wireless Communications

Jan. 11, 2024 — A new wave of communication technology is quickly approaching and researchers are now investigating ways to configure next-generation mobile ...

New Study Uses Machine Learning to Bridge the Reality Gap in Quantum Devices

Jan. 9, 2024 — A study has used the power of machine learning to overcome a key challenge affecting quantum devices. For the first time, the findings reveal a way to close the 'reality gap': the ...

Non-Toxic Quantum Dots Pave the Way Towards CMOS Shortwave Infrared Image Sensors for Consumer Electronics

Jan. 3, 2024 — Researchers have fabricated a new high-performance shortwave infrared (SWIR) image sensor based on non-toxic colloidal quantum dots. They report on a new method for synthesizing functional ...

360-Degree Head-Up Display View Could Warn Drivers of Road Obstacles in Real Time

Dec. 21, 2023 — Researchers have developed an augmented reality head-up display that could improve road safety by displaying potential hazards as high-resolution three-dimensional holograms directly in a ...

Could an Electric Nudge to the Head Help Your Doctor Operate a Surgical Robot?

Dec. 21, 2023 — People who received gentle electric currents on the back of their heads learned to maneuver a robotic surgery tool in virtual reality and then in a real setting much more easily than people who ...

Cognitive Strategies for Augmenting the Body With a Wearable, Robotic Arm

Dec. 13, 2023 — Scientists show that breathing may be used to control a wearable extra robotic arm in healthy individuals, without hindering control of other parts of the ...

Immersive VR Goggles for Mice Unlock New Potential for Brain Science

Dec. 8, 2023 — New miniature virtual reality (VR) goggles provide more immersive experiences for mice living in laboratory settings. By more faithfully simulating natural environments, the researchers can more ...

To Help Autonomous Vehicles Make Moral Decisions, Researchers Ditch the 'Trolley Problem'

Dec. 1, 2023 — Researchers have developed a new experiment to better understand what people view as moral and immoral decisions related to driving vehicles, with the goal of collecting data to train autonomous ...

Immersive Engagement in Mixed Reality Can Be Measured With Reaction Time

Nov. 27, 2023 — In the real world/digital world cross-over of mixed reality, a user's immersive engagement with the program is called presence. Now, researchers have identified reaction time as a potential ...

When We Feel Things That Are Not There

Nov. 14, 2023 — The discovery of the phantom touch illusion provides insights into human perception and opens up new perspectives for interaction with virtual reality ...

Machine Learning Gives Users 'Superhuman' Ability to Open and Control Tools in Virtual Reality

Nov. 7, 2023 — Researchers have developed a virtual reality application where a range of 3D modelling tools can be opened and controlled using just the movement of a user's ...

Photography: One-Stop Solution for Shaping and Outlining Objects

Oct. 30, 2023 — A joint research team has developed a dual metalens that can switch between shooting modes based on light ...

Robot Stand-in Mimics Movements in VR

Oct. 27, 2023 — Researchers have developed a souped-up telepresence robot that responds automatically and in real-time to a remote user's movements and gestures made in virtual ...

Simplifying the Generation of Three-Dimensional Holographic Displays

Oct. 18, 2023 — Holograms have long held the promise of offering immersive three-dimensional (3D) experiences, but the challenges involved in generating them have limited their widespread use. Capitalizing on the ...

Unifying Matter, Energy and Consciousness

Oct. 10, 2023 — Understanding the interplay between consciousness, energy and matter could bring important insights to our fundamental understanding of ...