Researchers are using VR as an empathy tool to help neurotypical teachers understand their students with autism. There have already been attempts to use VR to help autistic children and adults find new ways of coping. Autism Speaks, for example, funds a virtual reality training program designed to help improve social skills. But a team of researchers at the University of Malta decided to work on the problem from the other direction — namely, using VR to help teachers understand the lived experience of autistic children.
Today is Earth Day! This means that we think about the relationship between man, nature and technology, as technology is becoming a nature of its own. Acknowledged in 192 countries, Earth Day is among the most widely celebrated eco-events across the world. Today it focuses on creating awareness about our planet and demonstrating support for environmental protection.
Now, what have you done to protect the environment? Took the bike to work last week? Had a meat-free lunch? Tell us on Twitter using #ecocoin or drop us a line in the comments below, and you might earn your very first ECO Coin in return!
What if plastics one day become a rare commodity that we desire and mine from the depths of the earth’s crust? By that time, plastic would be a rather different material. Shahar Livne offers a fast-forward to this next nature, by artificially geomimicing metamorphisms. She shares with us her speculative material: the “lithoplast”.
Scientists have created a mutant enzyme that breaks down plastic drinks bottles – by accident. The breakthrough could help solve the global plastic pollution crisis by enabling for the first time the full recycling of bottles.
Calling all bloggers! We’d love to have you on board for the 2018 Border Sessions festival in The Hague (NL). Join our team for behind-the-scenes access to festival events.
Don’t be surprised when you catch a human face on a screen strolling through the Van Abbe museum for contemporary art in Eindhoven, as these are Europe’s very first robotic museum-tours that offer a ‘digital door’ to the museum for those who are not physically able to attend. We spoke with Marleen Hartjes, project leader of the Special Guests programme of the museum, and explored with her the potential of this highly evolved form of “Skype on wheels”.
Ecological value is not well represented in our current economy. When you cut down a tree and sell the wood, you earn money. When you plant a tree, you create value, but you won’t get paid. What if there was a new currency to reward sustainable actions? There is, and we call it the ECO Coin. On Friday 20th April at 5pm in the circular pavilion Circl, Next Nature Network will showcase our vision of the ECO coin as a cryptocurrency. All are welcome to join us for this free public event.
Submarines feature a special device called a periscope that allows people inside the submarine to see what’s going on above water. Controlling such an eye requires hours of training, and costs a whopping $38.000 per ship. However, the new generation sailors saw fit for a millennial-ready tool: the 30$ X-box controller from that children’s’ playstore around the corner.
Recent years have proved that if you want to look for which countries are adopting innovative digital governing solutions, you don’t look at the usual tech suspects like the US or Japan. You look to Estonia.
