[Fast Company reports on how scientists are using virtual reality, and both spatial and social presence, to collaborate in the work to identify effective drug treatments for COVID-19. See the original story for a 14:33 minute video and for coverage of related efforts see a November 2020 story in Drug Target Review and a June 2018 post in ISPR Presence News. –Matthew] These scientists are using virtual reality to develop COVID-19 treatments Looking at molecules in 3D arms scientists with important information that’s hard to glean from traditional 2D formats. By Ruth Reader August 3, 2021 Last year, when Italy…

[A new website for the film Reminiscence lets users create and share a trailer that incorporates a deepfake of the viewer using only a single uploaded photograph. The first short story from SlashGear below describes the process and the film (which at this writing has a 7.8/10 rating at IMDb) and the second story from Protocol provides details about the technology and company behind the interactive, personalized trailer. –Matthew] [Image: Source: DDay] Warner Bros Reminiscence site uses deepfake tech to put you in the trailer By Brittany A. Roston August 14, 2021 The soon-to-be-released science fiction movie starring Huge Jackman,…

[Yes please. It’s not clear when or even if it’ll happen but as this CNET story notes, a holodeck-like recreation of the entire USS Enterprise would please die-hard fans of the Star Trek franchise. See the original story for more pictures and a 6:11 minute video (also available via YouTube). The official press release is available from PR Newswire and, with lots of pictures, on the OTOY website. See also coverage in Variety. There have been several efforts to recreate the experience of being on the USS Enterprise, including the Star Trek: Original Series Set Tour in Ticonderoga, New York;…

[Nvidia created a virtual version of its CEO to give part of a keynote speech, as reported in this PC Magazine story. Despite the after-the-fact critique of the realism of the illusion, it’s notable that many people either initially believed it or thought the doppelganger gave the entire speech when it was just a short segment (a VICE story helpfully says “if you jump to this part of the presentation you can see [Jensen] Huang magically disappear and his kitchen explode into multiple different 3D models). And even the PC Magazine story notes that “Given the ongoing advancements in technology,…

[The two new stories below highlight the important role of different types of presence in the exploration and commercialization of space. The first from Business Insider is about a year-long NASA simulation; as the linked press release says, “The habitat will simulate the challenges of a mission on Mars, including resource limitations, equipment failure, communication delays, and other environmental stressors. Crew tasks may include simulated spacewalks, scientific research, use of virtual reality and robotic controls, and exchanging communications.” The second story, from The Register, describes an ambitious project in Japan to deploy “mobile robot ’space avatars’ controllable by the public…

[Facebook is developing a technology that displays an external view of the eyes of the user of a virtual reality headset, creating a presence illusion for other people in the room and reducing the sense of isolation of the user. The current prototype is described in the Road to VR story below, where the original includes two more images and two short videos. –Matthew] Facebook Researchers Show ‘Reverse Passthrough’ VR Prototype for Eye-contact Outside the Headset By Ben Lang August 3, 2021 Researchers at Facebook Reality Labs today published new work showcasing a prototype headset which has external displays to…

[The King’s College London report below describes a clever use of presence to immerse, distract and calm patients while they have an MRI scan. The original version of the story includes three different images and a 6:41 minute demonstration video is available on YouTube. For related news see “Virtual reality application helps prepare children for MRI examination without fear” in News Medical and the 2018 ISPR Presence News post “First person report: MRI scans are horrible for kids – so I created a VR app to help.” –Matthew] [Image: Source: Medical Xpress] A novel virtual reality technology to make MRI…

[New research described in this story from Nautilus demonstrates how “reality and imagination are completely intermixed in our brain which means that the separation between our inner world and the outside world is not as clear as we might like to think.” As technology-mediated experiences become increasingly similar to experiences of either the external or internal world, the potential for further blurring seems likely to increase. See the original story for a second image and reader comments. –Matthew] [Image: One shade of gray: Our knowledge about how shadows influence color makes the B square look lighter than the A square,…

[With continuing unease about returning to in -person learning during a pandemic, a Business Wire press release from a new partnership between a university and technology companies announces “one of the first virtual reality campuses” in the US, using “[a]dvancements in hardware and 5G networks… to power more immersive and engaging learning experiences for students in ways we never imagined.” Coverage in ZDNet comments that: “A big part of this story concerns access. Tuition at in-person colleges and universities is rising… At the same time, competition for seats is rampant. Virtual campuses may be an answer to both problems —…

[In this intriguing post from The Splintered Mind blog, University of California, Riverside philosophy professor Eric Schwitzgebel combines the facts that especially with the pandemic people are increasingly interacting via technology and that deepfake technologies are creating increasingly convincing simulacra of people to present a thought experiment about how we may come to experience and think about the medium-as-social-actor presence of a person after their death. See the original post for a video, links to related posts, and thoughtful reader comments and author responses. –Matthew] [Image: A simulated version of a person who has died appears on a laptop screen…

[The story from Canada’s The Globe and Mail describes how a projection mapped art installation on the underside of a Vancouver bridge has been transformed into a free public virtual reality experience following an interruption by the pandemic. For more information, images and videos, see the project’s website and the Canada Wild Productions site. A review of the original 2017 installation from Vancouver Is Awesome describes it this way: “Uninterrupted Swim with the salmon with Nettie Wild’s stunning film Sous le pont / Cambie Bridge / Salmon are dancing / Salmon are dancing. Your heart will dance, too, as the…

[Smartphone companies including Oppo are working to successfully hide the forward-facing (“selfie” camera) behind the display screen, with the latest advances reported in this story from Engadget. Beyond the aesthetic and immersive effect of having the image occupy the entire screen, the advances hold the prospect of solving the eye-contact problem in video collaboration, enabling users to look directly at each other. See the original version of the story for more images including the sample photo mentioned. –Matthew] Oppo’s latest under-screen camera may finally be capable of good photos The company’s third-gen camera setup benefits from some AI trickery and…