Explore persistent 3D environments with Marble

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.

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.)

Playing around with an AR sandbox

The white sand acts as a projector screen and a topographic map image is projected on the surface. An XBOX Kinect is positioned to read the contours of the sand and draw new topographic lines according to how the sand is moved.

Nvidia Omniverse can be used to accelerate 3D workflows and explore creative ideas

This video explores different apps available within Nvidia Omniverse that artists can use to create cinematic, virtual worlds. Some of the tools are AI-powered, like a feature that converts spoken audio into a video of a character speaking.

Large language models struggle to play video games, despite coding them easily

As of 2025, given clear tasks, specific feedback, and test results to learn from, LLMs have been successful at coding simple video games that resemble pre-existing ones. However, given the variety of games, the lack of training datasets, and the need for spatial awareness, which LLMs find challenging, some of these models experience greater difficulty navigating and "winning" games.

Sculpting the unrivalled stone, marble

Marble is considered the chief material for sculpture due to its intrinsic beauty, stemming from its white translucence which makes the light appear to come from the stone. In this video, sculptor Simon Smith recreates Donatello's 15th-century Prato Pulpit panel which still hangs on the outside of a church. Watch as he explains the painstaking process and reveals the beautiful final output.

View the surface of Mars from NASA's Perseverance

Simulate a visit to the red planet with the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover. This 3D interactive experience lets you explore various locations on the martian surface. See closeup images the rover has taken and view key points of interest. It's the next best thing to being there and certainly far safer!

Model context protocol allows large language models to connect to external data

Using a unified interface, MCP simplifies how AI systems securely connect to external data, tools, and services. The protocol enables AI agents to perform tasks without ongoing human refinement or updates to manually integrate new data.

Create digital maps of Earth with custom sketches and labels

In this interactive, users can apply layers to various base maps to display natural and human features, including geological activity, biomes, ocean currents, population densities, and light pollution. Custom legends, markers, and drawings can be used to highlight prominent features.

An AI-built pixel map reimagines New York City as a video game

Isometric NYC is a zoomable pixel-art map that renders the city in game-style perspective (think SimCity), helpfully clarifying the dense geography and architecture. The makers built the project tile-by-tile using satellite data and generative AI. Zoom into building-level views or out to see all five boroughs.

What does the metaverse actually look like?

An emerging virtual world could change how we work, play, and do business. This five-minute video shows you what it looks like and the potential it holds.

How the Martha Graham Company experiments with technology

The dance company was the first major group to livestream rehearsals and has collaborated with Google on a version of Graham's "Lamentation" that superimposes past performances on the present-day dancer.

A virtual art gallery in the mode of 'Doom'

One of the earliest video games to use 3D interfaces, 1993's "Doom" was a first-person shooter set on the moons of Mars which ended in hell. It became one of the most critically and commercially successful games of all time. Now, you can wander virtually in an art gallery in the mode of the game, sipping wine and perusing pixelated versions of classic works of art.

How AR could reshape construction

Wired's Grant Imahara visits Los Angeles, where he witnesses how augmented reality will be a key component of how builders will do their jobs in the future.

The AI that creates any picture you want and how it works

Since January 2021, advances in AI research produced a plethora of deep-learning models capable of generating original images from simple text prompts. Researchers at OpenAI, Google, Facebook, and others have developed yet to be released text-to-image tools, and similar models have proliferated online. This video is a primer on how we got here, how the technology works, and its implications.

Explore the animals that populate the depths of the ocean, from fish and coral in the first few hundred feet, all the way down to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

Play Infinite Craft, an AI software-powered game

In this browser-based game, users combine the elements of earth, wind, fire, and water to create an infinite number of new elements. Try your best to make as many natural phenomena as you can as you build up to the multiverse.

Flip through centuries-old artifacts in this 3D library

Archaeology is hands-on work, giving researchers the ability to analyze artifacts from as many sides as possible to find marks left by those that came before us. While looking at pictures of artifacts gives you some insight, you're limited to...

Using AI to track plastic pollution in real time

Explore Global Plastic Watch, the first-ever, near-real-time, high-resolution map of plastic pollution. Global Plastic Watch uses advanced satellite data technology and machine learning to measure piles of plastic waste from space.

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.

B2 models the interactions of air, water, soil, plants and microbes at the LEO

The Landscape Evolution Observatory at Biosphere 2 examines how factors such as climate change, water flow, weathering and community development impact landscape structures comprising 500 metric tons of crushed rock. Research is also conducted at biomes representing savannas, mangroves, coastal fog deserts, oceans and rainforests.

Decentraland is a virtual world that runs on Ethereum

Users can buy plots of land in the virtual Decentraland universe to collect, trade, and battle Pokemon-like monsters in the video game “Axie Infinity.”

Artificial coral reefs have been 3D printed from nontoxic, biodegradable terracotta clay, which coral polyps have used as a foundation for rebuilding marine ecosystems.

Inhabiting Mars without terraforming might be accomplished with 'worldhouses'

A network of interconnected, airtight bubbles would require several orders of magnitude fewer materials than those required to re-establish the entire planet's atmosphere to resemble Earth. However, the whole network would be compromised by a single micrometeor impact that destroys the air seal.

Watch how wild animals are projected into a mall

Centered around a dynamic, ever-changing watering hole, the experience allows you to meet a diverse range of animals from Africa to the Arctic as they graze, drink, and interact with the environment around them.

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.

This site reaches millions of visitors who are tired of AI chatbots and seeking human connection. Pretend to be an AI chatbot and ask questions, provide answers, and draw for people in real time.

Artificial coral reefs have been 3D printed from nontoxic, biodegradable terracotta clay, which coral polyps have used as a foundation for rebuilding marine ecosystems.

Video and still images are combined with sonar data to create seafloor maps

Sonar works by sending thousands of sound pulses per second towards the seafloor, capturing the strength and timing of the returning echo. This data can accurately reveal depth, seafloor texture, and the presence of fish habitats to millimeter resolutions.

Massive 3D printers have been used to build homes by stacking layers of 'concrete toothpaste,' a fire-resistant material that effectively insulates against outside noise.

Explore the known asteroids, comets, and spacecraft involved in asteroid studies within our solar system with 'Eyes on Asteroids,' a 3D visualization from NASA.

Watch this video that uses Lego bricks to explain how venture capital works.

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.

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.

A vending machine run with Anthropic's AI went out of business after it was convinced to give away items for free and sell a video game console.

Explore an interactive map built from more than 100,000 survey responses on where people find joy in their lives

According to the physics of black holes, our 4D reality may be a hologram—a projection of information coded on a 2D surface on the edge of the universe.

Planeterrellas create artificial auroras that mimic the atmospheric displays of light by setting up an electric field between two metal balls in a jar filled with a small amount of air.

Apeirophobia is an overwhelming fear of living forever, perhaps stemming from the brain's inability to conceptualize an infinite life.

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

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.

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

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.

Alzheimer's can lead to brain shrinkage, with an average of around 2% of volume reduction per year

American dance legend Martha Graham, sometimes called 'the Picasso of dance,' refused to perform at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and conceived the piece 'Chronicle' in response to the experience.

Marburg virus, related to Ebola, is also extremely deadly, and has no available vaccine.

Walt Disney's early film 'Alice's Wonderland' was a groundbreaking innovation in the silent film era

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.

The Mona Lisa's celebrity status and repeated restorations have obscured what made the painting so revolutionary for its time

Bone marrow (soft tissue found inside certain bones) generates roughly 500 billion new blood cells each day