[This story from Digital Trends is an entertaining look at a new way to simulate smells to enhance presence for virtual reality users as well as in other contexts. See the original story for a second image and a video, and for more information about this and other presence-related work from the Human-Computer Integration Lab at the University of Chicago see the Lab’s website. –Matthew] Smell-O-Vision: This nose-zapping wearable simulates smell using electricity By Luke Dormehl June 6, 2021 Jas Brooks, a long-haired engineer who looks as if they might moonlight as the roadie for a hair metal band, sat…

[This is an interesting press release from UCLA via MedicalXpress about new neurophysics research that compares responses to virtual reality and the real world; it raises many questions about how we can measure and manipulate presence and its impacts. For more information see Maynak Mehta‘s website. –Matthew] Virtual reality boosts brain rhythms crucial for neuroplasticity, learning and memory by University of California, Los Angeles June 28, 2021 A new discovery in rats shows that the brain responds differently in immersive virtual reality environments versus the real world. The finding could help scientists understand how the brain brings together sensory information…

[This story from Road to VR evaluates a new presence-evoking technology announced by the company Varjo, which is promoting its Reality Cloud platform as “allowing the ultimate science fiction dream, photorealistic virtual teleportation, to come true.” Here’s a little of what Varjo says in a blog post announcement: “With Varjo Reality Cloud and Varjo XR-3, anybody will be able to capture their surroundings in 3D and then invite somebody else to join that same exact reality, see and hear others, and share their experience in absolute immersion. Instead of jumping on a plane, you will be able to teleport to…

[The Guardian recently published a “Readers Reply” discussion about the ultimate form of presence, the idea that our entire universe is a sophisticated simulation. Here’s a slightly abridged version with a few of my favorite comments highlighted (with [*]). –Matthew] Readers reply: how do we know we’re not living in a simulation like the Matrix? The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts 13 June 2021 Isn’t this just the kind of article our biomechanical overlords would simulate in order to keep us compliant…

[Although it may seem surprising that reliving a person’s traumatic experience via virtual reality can help them recover from the event, this story from The New York Times explains how this positive application of presence works using personal examples. See the original story for three short videos, and for more about Chris Merkle’s experience see a 2017 Rolling Stone article. As the story below and a related Business Insider story note, VR is likely to also be helpful in addressing mental health issues caused by the pandemic. –Matthew] Virtual Reality Therapy Plunges Patients Back Into Trauma. Here Is Why Some…

[A new type of artificial skin reveals damage from injuries like human skin does, as reported in this story from New Atlas. Coverage in Futurism suggests the potential to enhance medium-as-social actor presence in joking that “Terminator-like robots could use [the technology] to blend in among us unsuspecting humans.” –Matthew] Artificial skin bruises like the real thing By Nick Lavars June 21, 2021 Scientists in China have developed a novel material they say could improve the performance of prosthetic devices and robotics, by allowing them to sense injuries just like people. The artificial skin uses a special gel that changes…