An analysis on using VR to help train orthopedic surgeons

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.

The potential of virtual reality in healthcare

Virtual reality (VR) is carving new frontiers in healthcare, from aiding in stroke recovery to training medical professionals. This article in Time Magazine highlights the innovative uses of VR in medical settings, including its potential and current limitations.

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.

Virtual platform lets surgeons train remotely and in real time

Advancements in health tech are breaking barriers, as trainee surgeons can now virtually join live operations without stepping into the operating room. This 6-minute video from BBC takes a look at Proximi's cloud-based platform, which enables...

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.

People learned to fly in VR, and their brains then accepted wings as body parts

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. The brain research has potential implications for how VR training may help people adapt to prostheses. (Free with email.)

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.

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.

How the rise of surgical robots affects medical education

Today's medical students are training in tools their predecessors may have only dreamed of or found locked in the pages of science fiction novels. This article explores the rising popularity and use of surgical robots and how these robots are...

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.

Why yoga teachers are dissecting cadavers

Thousands of fitness professionals are choosing to attend cadaver workshops to improve their understanding of anatomy and their teaching abilities. Though 3D virtual models give students a fresh way to explore the human body, medical students say experiencing the intricacies in person is far more instructive. As fitness professionals increase their understanding of the muscular and skeletal systems, their movement cues and instructions evolve in tandem.

Engineer explains VR at five levels of complexity

While its possible to grab a virtual reality headset and hop into an immersive world with little effort, a significant amount of technical and biological science has gone into creating the effect of a 3D world. This video breaks down the technology in five layers of increasing complexity.

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.)

Experience the Apollo 11 mission in VR

Take one small step today and experience the historic moon-landing through VR. This video showcases how VR is allowing the public to travel through space through the eyes of those who lived through it.

A VR tour of Auschwitz narrated by three Holocaust survivors

Receive a tour of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum through this nearly 10-minute long virtual reality video. Get a 360° view of different sections of the former concentration and extermination camp while hearing the reminiscences of three survivors and learning more about the atrocities committed there over the course of five years.

See this first-person virtual reality view of vertigo

This video shows a virtual reality environment view of what benign paroxysmal positional vertigo will look like, from a first-person view. It includes a virtual rendering of eye spinning associated with the condition. (Warning: Watching this may make some users feel a bit nauseous.)

Real surgical footage reveals what arthritis looks like up close

Arthritis is a painful condition of human joints that often results from the loss or breakdown of the soft cartilage padding that naturally exists between bones. This video shows footage from an actual knee surgery that beautifully demonstrates the difference between normal cartilage and the degenerative cartilage seen in osteoarthritis.

Visualize how CRISPR works at the molecular level

CRISPR is a revolutionary gene-editing technology already making a real-world impact in helping to treat several diseases and conditions. This simulation provides a microscopic view to help easily visualize the complex science.

Watch these Canadian doctors critique medical accuracy on television shows

Drs. Paul Zalzal and Brad Weening are orthopedic surgeons and members of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. In this episode, they discuss which television shows they think are the most medically accurate. "Grey's Anatomy" did not fare well in their review.

Emergency room evaluations may be improved with AI algorithms

Emergency room care teams must make fast and crucial decisions. They must determine if patients need to be admitted or discharged and when to order more tests or not. Researchers have been exploring how often patients died in the week after they were sent home and evaluating how this and other aspects of emergency care decision-making could be improved with AI algorithms to assist decision-makers.

NASA uses extreme Earth environments to prepare for space exploration

Analog missions in volcanic terrains and craters mimic Martian and lunar environments. Crew members operating in these missions, including at sites in Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and Hawai'i, test suits and specialized space instruments under simulated conditions.

Horror offers opportunities to safely experiment with fear

Researchers at Denmark’s Aarhus University study people attracted to what they call “recreational fear,” which includes any media (like a horror movie) or experience (like a haunted house) that’s intended to give them a scare. They say these people appreciate playing with fears and anxieties safely.

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...

Help scientists at LIGO train AI to resolve glitches in observational data

Volunteers are provided with visual representations of signal abnormalities at various frequencies and tasked with categorizing them based on reference examples. Progressing through the tool unlocks more difficult images and additional features. Categorized images will be used to train machine learning algorithms for automated future classification.

Smell retraining can help people with anosmia learn to smell again

Olfactory training, which involves repeatedly smelling a selection of strong odors, teaches your brain to familiarize itself with experiencing smells over a lengthy period, typically multiple months. This can be useful for patients who lose their sense of smell for myriad reasons.

Scientists have demonstrated IVF to help critically endangered rhinos

Scientists have used the technique to create embryos from eggs harvested from captive southern white rhinos and implanted into a southern white rhino. They hope to use this proof of concept to eventually use IVF to revive the population of northern white rhinos, which are extinct in the wild and have no living males left, using a precious reserve of frozen embryos and a surrogate southern white rhino mother.

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

Astronauts have repaired genetic damage in space using CRISPR—a molecular tool that can make precise changes to DNA and is used in single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses.

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.

See images of medical cases of firework injuries shared on this 'Instagram for doctors.' (Warning: Graphic content)

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

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 recent years a child anxiety expert has created and tested a novel phobia and anxiety treatment approach for children, focused on changing how parents respond to the fears.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

The first image of a black hole was captured by creating an Earth-sized virtual observatory from a network of eight radio telescopes.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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