Mixed reality may help onboard manufacturing workers more efficiently

Mixed reality devices can turn digital information into 3D experiences

Described as "wearing a theme park on your face," devices like Microsoft's HoloLens project images into users' eyes so that their brains believe virtual objects are actually there. The bulkiness and physical limitations of existing headsets are expected to lessen over time, mimicking the evolution of early headphones.

Simulations incorporating mixed reality have improved trainee certification rates

Such software provides immersive, risk-free environments where students can manipulate digital re-creations to optimize the training experience without producing waste. One meta-analysis showed that MR in welding training boosted passing rates on certification exams by 41.6% versus traditional training methods.

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.

Integrating mixed reality has made art galleries and museums more interactive and accessible

The technology bridges the gap between history and modernity in such spaces by attracting new, younger audiences while preserving cultural heritage through risk-free immersion. Mixed reality experiences, such as visiting reconstructed historical scenes or seeing virtual twins of lost paintings, can be programmed with software features for visitors with disabilities.

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.

Mixed reality devices and other wearables may usurp smartphones

The integration of smartphone features into watches, glasses, and even clothing suggests future technology may be geared toward working independently in the background. Mixed reality technologies are expected to facilitate this ambient computing world by seamlessly and proactively displaying real-time content without physical interactions solely in the real world.

Virtual and augmented realities are paving the way for a more immersive future

Tech companies like Apple, Meta, and Microsoft invest heavily in immersive technologies such as virtual, augmented, and mixed reality. While VR transports users to a fully digital space and AR adds digital elements to the real world, mixed reality allows interaction with both at once.

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.

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.

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.

Limited battery life and increasing discomfort prevent extensive use of mixed reality headsets

Spending 24 hours wearing Apple's Vision Pro highlights some of the challenges facing MR technology, which are compounded by an increasing number of bugs when software is run in nonideal conditions. However, practical and entertainment benefits include placing multiple midair timers when cooking and experiencing immersive multimedia, such as astronomical flythroughs.

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.

Mixed reality technology helped make repairs to a quantum physics facility in space

In 2021, astronaut Megan McArthur used a HoloLens to work alongside Earth-based engineers and make hardware replacements to the International Space Station's Cold Atom Lab, the first quantum science facility in Earth orbit. The facility cools atoms to near absolute zero to perform quantum chemistry experiments in a microgravity environment.

Watch how a mixed reality app transforms a space into a haunted house

"Hauntify" incorporates a user's physical surroundings into the gameplay. Available via the Meta Quest app store, the software utilizes the mixed reality device's cameras and sensors to map a user's environment, from which evil spirits that must be repelled appear to emerge suddenly.

Early testing of the US Army's mixed reality headsets made soldiers perform worse

Soldiers involved in testing the Integrated Visual Augmentation System reported headaches, nausea, limited peripheral vision, and concerns about security due to the display backlighting, which could be viewed from hundreds of meters away. The difficulties led the Department of Defense to transfer the program's contract from Microsoft to Anduril Industries.

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.

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.

Is using VR as a tool to enhance empathy ethical?

This research paper explores whether virtual reality should be used as a tool for improving our moral character — and, if not, what ethical alternatives could be.

AI-generated avatars allow users to create deepfakes in real time

Synthetic media tools can map voices and faces to make individuals appear as someone else. Although they open the door to new opportunities in immersive education and entertainment, they also raise concerns about the misuse of personal identity.

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.

Efforts to build touch-enabled machines highlight the complexity of human touch

The challenges that engineers are facing as they try to reproduce a human's ability to touch and also give robots the ability to interpret that kind of sensory flow are furthering our understanding of the myriad intricacies of human touch—and the challenges in emulating it.

People are experiencing AI 'brain fry' at work

Workers, particularly in marketing, are experiencing mental fatigue in the workplace due to expectations—often unspoken—that they should use AI to multitask beyond their comfort levels. Many feel they are underperforming if they don't embrace this technology. This situation differs from typical burnout. This podcast discussion suggests that this "brain fry" tends to intensify when employees are required to use more than three AI tools.

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.

Turning 2D illustrations into 3D models with AR

Coloring books capture the imagination of children and provide them with one of their earliest opportunities for creative expression. This two-minute video shows an augmented reality coloring book app in which children color characters in a printed coloring book, their drawing is detected and tracked, and the video stream is augmented with an animated 3-D version of the character that is textured according to the child’s coloring.

Some employers are using new technology to surveil remote workers

'Bossware' tools help employers make sure their remote workers aren't slacking off on the job, using surveillance technology to monitor employee computer activity and more.

Watch a tour of an integrated circuit fabrication plant

Explore the protocols in place to ensure clean rooms have no dust to jeopardize the integrity of silicon wafers as they are transformed into working microchips. Layering, photolithography, etching, and chemical vapor deposition are shown alongside digital visualizations.

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.

Watch how algorithms can be designed to train themselves and self-improve without human input, to the point where the optimized code is too complex for programmers to understand.

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.

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.

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.

Watch how deep-sea mining equipment collects and processes polymetallic nodules—metal-rich, potato-shaped rocks—from the ocean floor and creates environmentally damaging plumes of sediments.

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

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.

About 2,000 US babies are born annually without some portion of their limbs, potentially leading to a lifetime of pricey prosthetics.

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

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.

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

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

Telehealth demand for GLP-1s for weight loss is booming as consumers seek easier access.

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.

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.

Electrical grids worldwide must double their power delivery capacity by 2050 to meet surging demand from AI and electric vehicles.

How Amazon operates a 'flywheel' business model, a self-reinforcing cycle that drives continuous growth

Learn how monoclonal antibodies, which mimic the body's antibodies, can fight diseases like Ebola.

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

Studies suggest when you sleep is as important as how much you get, and syncing with your circadian rhythms may lead to less fatigue and improved long-term health outcomes

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

Some Pokémon have been named after real and fictional organisms, while some real-world species have been named after Pokémon, such as Chilicola charizard and Binburrum zapdos.