This ScienceDaily article reports researchers at the University of Barcelona have created a system which measures human physiological parameters, such as respiration or heart rate, and introduces them into computer designed characters in real time. From the article: ""The ultimate aim is to develop a method which allows humans to unconsciously relate with some parts of the virtual environment more intensely than with others, and that they are encouraged only by their own physiological responses to the virtual reality shown," Christoph Groenegress, co-author of the work and researcher at the University of Barcelona explained.

This Geek O System article reports Swiss researchers, Chauncey Graetzel and his team at Zurich’s Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems have built a virtual reality rig that allows fruit flies to control robots. From the article: "By strapping a fruit fly into a machine that flashes it with lights and tricks the fly into thinking said lights are obstacles, scientists are able to control which direction the fly flies. Along with another tracking-style system in place that can capture and translate wing movement, the Zurich team can then translate the flies movements into commands for piloting a robot, which they’ve successfully tested on a Lego Mindstorm NXT robot.

This press release reports EON Reality announced the formation of EON Kids2, a Joint Venture between Kids2, LLC and EON Reality, Inc. for the purpose of providing Education, Entertainment and Communication to the K through 12 Global Classroom. From the press release: "One of the ways to accomplish this is to use 3D Virtual Technologies to bring the world into the classroom. "We can no longer expect students to have the same level of success using yesterday's teaching methods as a means to understand today's more complex theories and processes," stated Thomas Smith, Executive Vice President of Business Development for EON Reality and a Member of the Kids2 Advisory Board. "Our methods are based on 'Edutainment' which entertains and educates the student at the same time.

This Positive Technology Journal article looks at the Heart Chamber Orchestra: classical musicians who use their heartbeats to control a computer composition and visualization environment. From the article: "To my best knowledge, this is the first example of "group biofeedback".

The musicians are equipped with ECG (electrocardiogram) sensors. A computer monitors and analyzes the state of these 12 hearts in real time. The acquired information is used to compose a musical score with the aid of computer software. It is a living score dependent on the state of the hearts.

This ScienceDaily article reports researchers have used 'virtual mates' to discover if female parrots judge male contact calls when deciding on a mate. From the article: "Parrots are famed for their ability to mimic sounds and now researchers have used 'virtual mates' to discover if female parrots judge male contact calls when deciding on a mate. The research, published in Ethology, challenges traditional understandings of the difference between birds 'songs' and 'calls'.

Parrots are among the few species of bird to have developed the ability to quickly learn and mimic new sounds, but the evolutionary reason for this ability is little understood. The Californian based team used a species of budgerigar to discover if the ability to mimic new calls is linked to courtship and mate choice.

This Escapist article reports japanese researchers have successfully made a device that can change the flavor of a plain cookie to just about anything. From the article: "The future of augmented reality is in pastries that can taste like other pastries.

I had always thought that virtual reality devices would someday be used to make us think we could travel to unimaginable worlds through the depths of time and space. We haven't gotten there yet, but we're making progress through pastry. Japanese researchers have successfully made a device that can change the flavor of a plain cookie to just about anything.

This Joe Saward's Blog article reports Australia channel Nine recently revealed that it is considering a plan to repackage its Monday night AFL matches, so that the grandstands are filled with virtual spectators. From the article: "The ever-increasing costs of tickets to Formula 1 races are having an effect on the number of people in the grandstands – whether those involved wish to admit it or not. Race promoters do their best to draw in crowds, but the prices they are forced to ask – and the services that they can afford to offer – make it a difficult sell Formula 1 to the public, particularly in places where there is no obvious reason for a Grand Prix to be held. In such situations the local governments have tended to step in to pay the bills.

This ScienceDaily article reports teenage online community users feel part of their online community almost as much as they feel part of their own family. From the article: "An international study of the users of teenage online community Habbo reveals that users identify more strongly with the online community than with their neighbourhood or offline hobby group. The study is based on a survey with 4299 respondents from United Kingdom, Spain and Japan. All three nationalities yielded similar results.

The study was authored by Dr. Vili Lehdonvirta, a researcher at the Helsinki Institute for Information Technology HIIT (currently a visiting scholar at the University of Tokyo), and Professor Pekka Räsänen from the University of Turku, Finland.

This Laboratory Equipment article reports researchers at the Computer Vision Lab at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, have developed a method with which they can produce virtual copies of real objects. From the article: "By incorporating the sense of touch, the user can delve deeper into virtual reality.

Sending a friend a virtual birthday present, or quickly beaming a new product over to a customer in America to try out - it sounds like science fiction, but this is what researchers at the Computer Vision Lab want to make possible, with the aid of new technology. Their first step was to successfully transmit a virtual object to a spatially remote person, who could not only see the object, but also feel it and move it.

Incorporating all the senses

This Computerworld article reports Intel, Nokia and Finland's University of Oulu announced that they are developing a joint research center to create software for 3D and virtual reality experiences for use on mobile devices. From the article: "The software will be developed by about 24 engineers in Oulu using the open-source MeeGo operating system, which was launched in February by Intel and Nokia. An early version of the MeeGo mobile phone OS went to developers in late June. The companies said in a conference call that they envisioned 3D and virtual reality software running on a broad range of mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets.