Simulations incorporating mixed reality have improved trainee certification rates

Mixed reality may help onboard manufacturing workers more efficiently

Mixed reality headsets can facilitate hands-on education by providing immersive guides overlaid onto their field of vision, showing users how to complete complex tasks.

The medical uses of VR

Virtual healthcare simulations are bridging the gap between traditional classroom learning and real clinical experience, improving the safety, effectiveness and efficiency of healthcare services.

Medical professionals have experimented with using mixed reality headsets

Devices like the Apple Vision Pro have helped doctors develop surgical plans for hip and knee replacements using software that provides 3D models and other tools. Virtual screens displayed by mixed reality devices can provide information related to surgical progress, a patient's vitals, and more.

Mixed reality technologies may help treat depression

A study led by a team from Stanford University showed that MR can help people with depression by providing pathways to engage in activities such as digital board games and dancing. Participants saw reduced symptoms of depression that made their overall treatment plans more successful.

What is mixed reality?

Mixed reality is a technology that blends the physical and digital worlds, allowing virtual and real objects to coexist and interact in real-time. It combines elements of both virtual reality and augmented reality, enabling users to perceive and manipulate digital content as if it were part of their physical environment.

Immersive technologies are increasingly being used in medicine, retail, and education

More accessible devices and user-friendly tools have increased the adoption of these technologies, which provide interactive, 3D environments that facilitate natural human learning. In 2018, Walmart purchased 17,000 VR headsets to train over a million employees in areas such as customer service and Black Friday preparation.

Meta's Quest and other mixed reality devices can make learning new skills easier

PianoVision utilizes the passthrough visibility of a headset to illuminate which keys to play on a real piano or keyboard, providing an immersive, software-based learning alternative to human instruction. Similar apps also offer virtual model replacements for physical devices, such as a virtual piano, to practice with.

Sets incorporating immersive mixed reality have transformed weather reporting

The technology enables presenters to step into virtual environments that incorporate 3D models and real-time data, providing more engaging and interactive forecasting. They have also facilitated the development of educational segments where meteorologists use virtual models to explain complex weather phenomena.

A 1992 failed parachute test provided the hardware for the first mixed reality system

The Virtual Fixtures platform was developed to improve human dexterity by merging physical and virtual objects with haptic feedback from an upper-body exoskeleton. Tight budgeting and significant equipment needs nearly canceled the project, were it not for salvaging and repairing cameras and sensors from a smashed experimental parachute rig.

AI systems identify patterns involving physics and time through 'world models'

These realistic virtual environments, such as driving simulations seen in video games, allow these systems to "learn" properties about reality beyond what can be captured in samples of text, images, and videos. Training AI in these simulated environments can help develop "physical AI" for automated robotic systems. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

After 25 people used virtual reality headsets to practice flying with virtual wings—flapping their arms—their visual cortex responded to the wings almost as if they were real arms, treating them as body parts.

Digital twins create real-time 3D models of smart cities

These re-creations allow city planners to track changes and manage infrastructure more easily by testing strategies in virtual environments. Geospatial technologies, such as mobile mapping and satellite imaging, help cities assess urban layouts, plan for disasters, and manage resources more efficiently.

Wish you could experience life on the Western Front of WWI?

Virtual reality offers a new perspective on World War I in this nearly 14-minute video. National WWI Museum and Memorial Public Program Specialist James Taub demonstrates the War Remains VR experience side by side with what he sees through the headset. A grim and detailed simulation of trench warfare combined with Taub's observations and insights.

The security and privacy risks of augmented reality

One of the most serious perceived risks of augmented reality is the loss of privacy. Because AR technology can see what users are doing, user privacy is jeopardized. AR collects far more information about who users are and what they are doing than...

Use this day trading simulator to practice buying and selling stocks while leveraging real-time data and trading charts

Want to try day trading but don't want to risk losing cash? This simulator gives users access to "unlimited" fake money, as well as the option to convert their simulation accounts to the real deal later on.

Nvidia’s RTX graphics chips support ray tracing, which, the company says, can boost performance in games by 25%

Ray tracing allows developers to add more realistic-looking lighting and shadows to video games, and Nvidia continues to improve the tech in newer chips. Rendering light realistically in video games requires immense computing power, and ray tracing “cheats” the process with a little guesswork.

When you complete a CAPTCHA on a website to prove you are human, you may be unknowingly training algorithms for self-driving cars, whose systems require training data to help identify crosswalks, bicycles, and other outdoor objects.

Deepfake potential ranges from destabilizing democracies to improving accessibility

The technology can revolutionize education, medicine, and art through actions such as helping a disabled person express themselves. However, fictional audio and video can also jeopardize a person's reputation and life or quickly spread misinformation, even without content being flawless recreations.

Longer-duration space missions may amplify astronaut motion sickness

NASA is using the Kraken, a 50-foot-long, 100-ton US Navy research device, to simulate space motion sickness and vertigo and test possible recovery strategies, including testing out different, specific head movements. The Kraken, located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, can rotate participants at exposures of up to 3G.

Scientists are using CRISPR to crossbreed heat-resistant corals amid warming reefs

Inside Australia's National Sea Simulator, coral hybrids are genetically engineered to resist the widespread coral bleaching caused by rising global temperatures. Early trials have developed groups with survival rates up to 34 percentage points higher than nonhybrids. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

The aviation industry built trust in automation by keeping pilots in the cockpit

Nearly 70% of Americans feel uncomfortable riding in a driverless car, and 81% of them would not fly on a pilotless plane. However, automated systems on planes were slowly introduced and advertised as enhancing safety—an approach that may benefit driverless vehicles.

Manage the control room of a virtual nuclear power plant

This interactive takes you on a tour of a virtual plant before handing you the keys to the control room. Challenge yourself to produce enough energy to meet demand while avoiding a nuclear meltdown.

Modern innovations have allowed rides to simultaneously become more extreme and safer

Several ingenious additions to roller coasters, such as extra wheels, magnetic brakes, and hydraulic system safety bars, have largely reduced discomfort and threats such as broken rides or ejected passengers.

Objects can be 3D printed with light by projecting 2D computerized tomography (CT) scans onto rotating cylinders of resin, which solidify upon exposure.

Inside MLB's robo-umping experiment

Human umpires call roughly 94% of pitches right overall, but performance reduces on borderline pitches in high-leverage moments, the calls that shape game outcomes most. A professor and historian analyze early experiments with the full "robot ump" system that helped shape MLB's decision to implement a compromise "challenge" system.

Objects can be 3D printed with light by projecting 2D computerized tomography (CT) scans onto rotating cylinders of resin, which solidify upon exposure.

Strength training appears to make for a healthier, youthful-looking brain

A study from 2025 links having higher amounts of muscle with a more youthful-looking brain age. Scientists analyzed data from more than 1,100 healthy adults around their mid-50s after they underwent full-body MRIs, comparing muscle, fat, and brain age appearances from the scans.Their findings link strength training and controlling visceral fat with improved brain health. The research didn't tease apart why this benefit occurs.

NSF-funded research into matching algorithms improved the success of organ transplants

Investigations in game theory, including concepts focused on creating mutually beneficial partnerships—matching theory—led to the design of computer systems that efficiently matched kidney recipients and live donors, resulting in higher-quality matches. By 2019, these matching algorithms were used for multi-organ exchanges.

In 1984, Operation Smash Hit intentionally crashed a 239-ton train into a nuclear waste canister at 100 miles per hour to prove the canister's safety, which remained completely intact and lost just 0.29 of its 100 pounds of pressure.

Radioactive elements can introduce software errors because the ionizing radiation they produce can detach electrons from atoms, and computer code relies on the distribution of electrons.

Visualize how CRISPR-Cas9—a type of immune system used by single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses—targets and makes precise changes to a gene's DNA.

Play the role of a student in a game where you try to navigate college and remain debt-free, selecting different income levels, high school experience, race, ethnicity, and more.

The use of fungi to detoxify land and water—a process known as mycoremediation—has been used to clean up natural resources affected by the 2025 California wildfires.

Explore chaos in this simulation of two double pendulums, where small differences in the release angles produce wildly different outcomes.

Children are now three times more likely to say they want to be a YouTuber when they grow up than an astronaut, with some even attending 'YouTube camps' that teach kids how to create content for the platform.

Fish populations in the Great Barrier Reef have increased after installing waterproof speakers on the ocean floor that played recordings of sounds from healthy coral reefs.

Long before Major League Baseball began allowing instant replay for balls and strikes, an umpire reluctantly used the technology to determine whether a hit was a home run, a move that inadvertently ushered in a new era for the sport.

Indefinite cloning of some endangered species may not sustain their longevity because cloning success rates decrease as genetic mutations accumulate.

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by more than 1.5 million Muslims each year.

Dorothy's famous entrance into Oz in 'The Wizard of Oz' relied on analog tricks, including a body double and sepia-toned paint, as much as it did on technology

The American Society of Civil Engineers' infrastructure report card gave the US a C in 2025, its highest grade since the project launched in 1998.

In 2025, four executives from large tech companies were given positions in the US Army Reserves—including Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar, which reinforced Palantir's ties with the US military and its role as a leading defense partner.

Browse a detailed visual analysis of over 200,000 similes—comparisons that often use 'like' or 'as'—from popular fiction to see how frequently writers the same idiomatic expressions.

See how fireworks are made and learn how metals like magnesium and copper are responsible for different colors.

Legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the SC Johnson headquarters in Wisconsin, aiming to make a cathedral-like workplace

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.

To reduce wrinkles in clothing, research recommends gentle wash cycles with more water and tumble drying with smaller loads and longer times.

Stanford built a Google Maps for the Roman Empire, revealing how much it cost to travel in the ancient world

Explore what it's like inside a patient isolation unit, used in situations such as treating a patient or suspected patient with Ebola.