[From Mashable] Oculus Rift Used to Simulate Decapitation by Guillotine By Stan Schroeder May 7, 2013 We’ve seen the virtual reality headset Oculus Rift take a 90-year old grandmother on a charming tour through Tuscany, but the device can also be used for other, much less pleasant experiences. In one very blatant example, users are going through the experience of being decapitated by a guillotine, a device used for executions, most famously in the 18th century during the French Revolution. This Oculus Rift experience, created during the Exile Game Jam by Erkki Trummal, André Berlemont and Morten Brunbjerg, is dubbed…

[From The Philadelphia Inquirer, where the story includes additional images] [Image: Rolling Game Station, a 32-foot trailer loaded with video games, went to Zachary Jordan’s house in Douglassville for his eighth-birthday party. It is one of at least five games on wheels operations in the area. (MICHAEL S. WIRTZ / Staff Photographer)] Parties favoring video games By Kristin E. Holmes, Inquirer Staff Writer May 05, 2013 It was Zachary Jordan’s eighth-birthday party, but cake and ice cream couldn’t compete. There was something much more delectable outside: Super Mario Bros. in the dark. Parked in front of Zachary’s Douglassville home was…

[From OnlineAthens, where the story includes additional images] [Image: B.J. Whimpey, left, rides a virtual reality bicycle while Ray Smith, one of the two designers, looks on at the Driftmier Engineering Center in Athens, Ga., Thursday, May 2, 2013. (AJ Reynolds/Staff) AJ Reynolds/OnlineAthens & The Athens Banner-Herald] Shooting, biking and space mining at UGA virtual reality showcase By Lee Shearer – Friday, May 3, 2013 The places were virtual, but the fun was real Thursday in a virtual-reality open house on the University of Georgia campus. Visitors could operate a robotic flyer, fire a Glock 9mm pistol complete with recoil,…

[From South Carolina’s The State] [Image: Other students such as Lexie Kinder’s good friend Hazel Kolb, front left, work on their shapes while Alice Drive Elementary third-grade teacher Ivey Smith, back left, talks to Lexie Kinder, a girl who has not been able to attend school in nearly two years, via the VGo robot, a robotic stand-in. Sumter School District is the first school district in the state to pilot VGo, a machine that allows a student to attend school and interact with others through a camera and audio. Jade Anderson — AP/The (Sumter) Item] Sumter girl attends school thanks…

[From Temple University] [Image: Temple researchers are creating a virtual therapist for people with aphasia. Conducting the two-year study are, from left, Justin Shi, associate professor of computer science; Nadine Martin, professor of communication sciences; and Emily Keshner, professor and chair of physical therapy.] Aphasia patients may soon get help using a virtual speech therapist Posted May 1, 2013 — Eryn Jelesiewicz When asked about her stroke, Debi L. Green pulls a worn scrap of paper out of her purse and points to “October 15, 2004.” The paper is a collection of dates, diagnoses and vital facts that helps her…

[From Science Network Western Australia; more information and images are available at the University of Western Australia in Second Life blog] [Image: Left to right: Avatars of Professor Stuart Bunt (UWA), Dr April Richardson-Hatcher (UK), D.Newton (UWA) and Matt Hazzard (UK) meet to launch the collaboration] Virtual reality examined for tertiary science learning A virtual reality teaching program by UWA and collaborators has received an international award for innovative learning using Second Life. Saturday, 20 April 2013 06:00 Now with funding from UWA’s Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning, Professor Stuart Bunt from School of Anatomy, Physiology and…

[From The Peoria Journal Star, where the story includes a 1:44 minute video and additional images; more images are available at The Journal Star’s Eye blog; the Center’s web site is here] Virtual training center opens in Peoria to revolutionize health care and medicine By Pam Adams of the Journal Star Last update Apr 26, 2013 PEORIA — Mayor Jim Ardis said it would be a recruiting tool for the world’s leading researchers and doctors. Dr. Sara Rusch, regional dean of the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria, called it the “catalyst for transformational change in our community.”…

[From Gizmodo, where the story includes several additional images] Hands-On With the Iron Man Virtual Reality Setup: This is as Badass as Kinect Gets Chris Mills | March 26, 2013 To shamelessly promote the Iron Man 3 launch — 25th April, for you calendar-watchers out there — Marvel’s touring a nationwide Kinect-powered virtual reality setup that lets you ‘become’ Iron Man. And yeah, it’s pretty much as awesome as it sounds.…

[From The University of Southern California; more information is available here] USC develops virtual tool to train child interviewers By Evy Jacobson April 24, 2013 Conducting interviews with children who have witnessed a crime or have been victims of abuse or neglect comprises some of the most challenging and sensitive investigative work for attorneys, social workers and law enforcement officers. Getting a child to overcome embarrassment and fear and disclose information is a process where the wrong question or reaction can cause a child to withdraw, stop talking or provide misinformation. A joint research project between the USC Gould School…

[From TAXI, where the story includes a 5:36 minute video] LOL: A Life-Sized, Man-Shaped Boyfriend Pillow For Lonely Women By Dorothy Tan, 22 Apr 2013 Utrecht-based Dutch designer and illustrator Noortje de Keijzer has created a funny and rather creepy knitted boyfriend pillow for lonely women who need a man in their lives.…

[From the Smithsonian’s Surprising Science blog; a short video from the experiment is available at LiveScience] [Image: Brain scans show that the neurological patterns linked with pangs of empathy for humans also occur when we see a robot like WALL-E treated harshly. Image via Flickr user Rob Boudon] Neuroscience Explores Why Humans Feel Empathy for Robots April 23, 2013 Joseph Stromberg If, while watching WALL-E, your heart broke just a little bit when you saw the title character desperately travel across outer space in search of true love, it doesn’t mean you’re crazy. Sure, WALL-E is a robot.…

[From MIT’s Technology Review, where the story includes a 2:36 minute video] New 3-D Display Could Let Phones and Tablets Produce Holograms Optical trickery lets a modified LCD produce hologram-like still images and videos. By Katherine Bourzac on March 20, 2013 A new kind of three-dimensional display developed at HP Labs plays hologram-like videos without the need for any moving parts or glasses. Videos displayed on the HP system hover above the screen, and viewers can walk around them and experience an image or video from as many 200 different viewpoints—like walking around a real object. The screen is made…