Virtual Environment News

January 23, 2025

Top Headlines

Finding Better Photovoltaic Materials Faster With AI

Jan. 23, 2025 — Perovskite solar cells are a flexible and sustainable alternative to conventional silicon-based solar cells. Researchers were able to find -- within only a few weeks -- new organic molecules that increase the efficiency of perovskite solar cells. ...

Artificial Intelligence in Biomedicine: A Key to Analyzing Millions of Individual Cells

Jan. 23, 2025 — Our bodies are made up of around 75 billion cells. But what function does each individual cell perform and how greatly do a healthy person's cells differ from those of someone with a disease? To draw ...

Electrohydraulic Wearable Devices Create Unprecedented Haptic Sensations

Jan. 8, 2025 — Scientists have invented compact wearable devices that deliver rich, expressive, and pleasant tactile sensations that go far beyond the buzzing vibrations of today's consumer ...

Virtual Chemistry Speeds Up Drug Discovery

Jan. 6, 2025 — Among the hundreds of thousands of chemical compounds produced by plants, some may hold the key to treating human ailments and diseases. But recreating these complex, naturally occurring molecules in the lab often requires a time-consuming and ...

Latest Headlines

updated 8:38pm EST

Building Better Infrared Sensors

Jan. 2, 2025 — Researchers developed a type of infrared photodiode that is 35% more responsive at 1.55 m, the key wavelength for telecommunications, compared to other germanium-based ...

Plasma Heating Efficiency in Fusion Devices Boosted by Metal Screens

Dec. 19, 2024 — Scientists have performed computer simulations confirming a technique that prevents the production of unhelpful electromagnetic waves, boosting the heat put into fusion ...

New Virtual Reality-Tested System Shows Promise in Aiding Navigation of People With Blindness or Low Vision

Dec. 17, 2024 — A new study offers hope for people who are blind or have low vision (pBLV) through an innovative navigation system that was tested using virtual ...

Shape-Changing Device Helps Visually Impaired People Perform Location Task as Well as Sighted People

Dec. 10, 2024 — A groundbreaking piece of navigation technology that uses the ability to sense information through touch can help people with visual impairment ...

Virtual Fences Are a Pollinator-Friendly Option for Ranchlands

Dec. 9, 2024 — Fences are an effective stationary method of corralling livestock, but their sharp borders can create sudden changes in native grassland vegetation and the pollinators and birds that live there. ...

Reality Check: Making Indoor Smartphone-Based Augmented Reality Work

Nov. 23, 2024 — To understand the practical challenges of indoor augmented reality applications on smartphones, researchers conducted 113 hours of extensive experiments and case studies over 316 patterns to ...

Brighter and More Efficient LEDs That Don't Droop

Nov. 25, 2024 — LEDs with low polarization in a direction similar to standard LEDs show greater efficiency at higher power by resisting 'efficiency droop', a new study shows. The findings open the door to a new ...

The Parasaurolophus' Pipes: Modeling the Dinosaur's Crest to Study Its Sound

Nov. 21, 2024 — Scientists have presented results on the acoustic characteristics of a physical model of the Parasaurolophus' crest. They created a physical setup ...

Do Pipe Organs Create an Auto-Tune Effect?

Nov. 20, 2024 — The pipe organ stands as a bastion in concert halls and church sanctuaries, and even when not in use, it affects the acoustical environment around it. Researchers performed a sine-sweep through ...

New Method for Designing Artificial Proteins

Nov. 21, 2024 — Protein design aims to create customized antibodies for therapies, biosensors for diagnostics, or enzymes for chemical reactions. An international research team has now developed a method for ...

NeuroMechFly V2: Simulating How Fruit Flies See, Smell, and Navigate

Nov. 14, 2024 — Scientists have advanced their NeuroMechFly model, simulating fruit fly movement in the real world. With integrated vision and smell, NeuroMechFly v2 helps us understand brain-body coordination, ...

Scientists Calculate Predictions for Meson Measurements

Nov. 6, 2024 — Calculations of charge distribution in mesons provide benchmark for experimental measurements and validate widely used 'factorization' method for imaging the building blocks of ...

New Haptic Patch Transmits Complexity of Touch to the Skin

Nov. 6, 2024 — Thin, flexible device could help people with visual impairments 'feel' surroundings. Device comprises a hexagonal array of 19 actuators encapsulated in soft silicone. Device only uses ...

A Novel Neural Network for Preserving Cultural Heritage Via 3D Image Reconstruction

Oct. 31, 2024 — Relief-type cultural heritage objects are commonly found in many historical sites worldwide, but often suffer from varying levels of damage and deterioration. Traditional methods for image ...

Wearable Ultrasound Tech for Muscle Monitoring Opens New Possibilities in Healthcare and Human-Machine Interfaces

Oct. 31, 2024 — Researchers have developed a compact, wearable ultrasound device that monitors muscle activity. Attachable to the skin with an adhesive and powered by a small battery, the device wirelessly captures ...

How Virtual Cows Could Help Us Improve Human-Robot Interactions

Oct. 31, 2024 — A video game in which participants herded virtual cattle has furthered our understanding of how humans make decisions on movement and navigation, and it could help us not only interact more ...

Combining VR and Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation: A Neurotechnology That Boosts Spatial Memory Without Surgery

Oct. 30, 2024 — Researchers have joined forces to give a boost to spatial memory by creating a unique experimental setup that combines non-invasive deep-brain stimulation, virtual reality training, and fMRI imaging. ...

Dangers of the Metaverse and VR for US Youth Revealed in New Research

Oct. 22, 2024 — Research of online victimization in the metaverse is sorely lacking. A new study explored harm in the metaverse and VR devices among a sample of 5,005 U.S. teens aged 13 to 17. Findings show a ...

People Sympathize With Bullied AI Bots

Oct. 17, 2024 — In a new study, humans displayed sympathy towards and protected AI bots who were excluded from ...

Controlling Prosthetic Hands More Precisely by the Power of Thought

Oct. 17, 2024 — Researchers have developed a novel training protocol for brain-computer interfaces in a study with rhesus monkeys. The method enables precise control of prosthetic hands using signals from the brain ...

Out-of-This-World Simulation Key to Collecting Moon Dust

Oct. 16, 2024 — Teleoperated robots for gathering moon dust are a step closer, according to new ...

Researchers Develop Janus-Like Metasurface Technology That Acts According to the Direction of Light

Oct. 16, 2024 — Researchers have overcome the limitations of existing metasurface technologies and successfully designed a Janus metasurface capable of perfectly controlling asymmetric light ...

AI and Quantum Mechanics Team Up to Accelerate Drug Discovery

Oct. 7, 2024 — SMU have created SmartCADD. This open-source virtual tool combines artificial intelligence, quantum mechanics and Computer Assisted Drug Design (CADD) techniques to speed up the screening of chemical ...

Smartphone-Based Microscope Rapidly Reconstructs 3D Holograms

Sep. 11, 2024 — Researchers developed a new smartphone-based digital holographic microscope that enables precision 3D measurements. The highly portable and inexpensive microscope could help bring 3D measurement ...

Researchers Develop a Stretchable, Wearable Device That Lights Up an LED Using Only the Warmth of Your Skin

Sep. 11, 2024 — Researchers have developed a flexible, durable electronic prototype that can harvest energy from body heat and turn it into electricity that can be used to power small electronics, such as batteries, ...

Hydrogels Can Play Pong by 'Remembering' Previous Patterns of Electrical Simulation

Aug. 22, 2024 — Non-living hydrogels can play the video game Pong and improve their gameplay with more experience, researchers report. The researchers hooked hydrogels up to a virtual game environment and then ...

New Technology Uses Light to Engrave Erasable 3D Images

Aug. 9, 2024 — Researchers invented a technique that uses a specialized light projector and a photosensitive chemical additive to imprint two- and three-dimensional images inside any polymer. The light-based ...

Walking the Walk, Scientists Develop Motion-Compatible Brain Scanner

Aug. 7, 2024 — An upright neuroimaging device developed by neuroscientists, physicists and engineers allows patients to move around while undergoing a brain ...

AI Method Radically Speeds Predictions of Materials' Thermal Properties

July 26, 2024 — Researchers developed a machine-learning framework that can predict a key property of heat dispersion in materials that is up to 1,000 times faster than other AI methods, and could enable scientists ...

Key Electronic Device Developed for the Massive Arrival of 6G Networks

July 9, 2024 — Researchers were involved in the development of a switch, an essential device in telecommunications, capable of operating at very high frequency with lower power consumption than conventional ...