[From The Sydney Morning Herald] Google’s 360-degree tour of endangered reefs September 26, 2012 James Manning, Technology reporter Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has been opened to an audience of more than one billion people worldwide as Google launches a virtual tour of one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Users can log on to Street View on Google Maps and Google Earth and explore high-resolution, 360-degree images of the reef that are being gathered as part of the Catlin Seaview Survey, which documents the health of coral reefs around the world. “The project is as much about the…

[From News-Medical.net] [Image: Rendering of physical environment represented in the AbES software; in gamer mode, the player (yellow icon) navigates through the virtual environment using auditory cues to locate hidden jewels (blue squares) and avoid being caught by chasing monsters (red icons).] ‘Video game’ teaches blind people to navigate buildings Published on September 25, 2012 By Liam Davenport, medwireNews Reporter Blind people can learn the spatial layout of an unfamiliar building using a novel “video game” virtual reality environment that employs only audio-based cues, thus enabling them to learn skills that may improve functional independence, say US and Chilean scientists.…

[From The Times of Malta; more information including a 0:31 minute promotional video is available at http://www.malta5d.com/ and a 5:31 minute video on the making of the 5D film is available on YouTube] Experiencing Malta in virtual reality Kim Dalli Friday, September 28, 2012 A new attraction in Valletta offers an innovative and exciting way to experience the island’s history. Malta 5D combines 3D with new generation 5D cinema effects, allowing the audience full immersion into the world portrayed on screen. The 5D motion chairs have features such as water spray, vibration and leg sweeping while the auditorium has equipment…

[From NBC News] Camera-equipped ‘high dynamic range’ helmet gives you superhuman vision Devin Coldewey September 26, 2012 If you think of high dynamic range imaging, or HDR, you probably think of crazy panoramic cityscapes or lighthouses where everything pops with impossible clarity — imagine seeing the whole world that way. These goggles let you look at everything in real-time 3-D HDR — and it’s more useful than you might think.…

[From Wolters Kluwer Health; short demonstration videos can be found on YouTube here and here] Virtual Reality Simulator Helps Teach Surgery for Brain Cancer, Reports Neurosurgery ‘NeuroTouch’ System Provides 3-D Graphics and Tactile Feedback During Simulated Brain Surgery  Philadelphia, Pa. (September 20, 2012) – A new virtual reality simulator—including sophisticated 3-D graphics and tactile feedback—provides neurosurgery trainees with valuable opportunities to practice essential skills and techniques for brain cancer surgery, according to a paper in the September issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of…

[From PC World, where the story includes additional pictures] Virtual reality: More virtual than real By Julie Sartain, NetworkWorld Sep 24, 2012 Remember virtual reality? The idea that science could create a virtual world of sight, sound, smell and touch was hot two decades ago, then completely fizzled out. “VR made a huge splash in the 90s, but collapsed into near obscurity a few years later. The term VR even became a dirty word for some time, giving way to the less-hyped term immersion,” says Paul Mlyniec, president of California-based Digital ArtForms. “There’s not much new happening in virtual reality,”…