University of Victoria. This town found clean energy deep inside old coal mines. ScienceDaily, May 2026.

The town of Cumberland in British Columbia was known for coal mining for decades. Now, beneath the community lies a vast network of abandoned tunnels that may help power a cleaner future.

Researchers are studying whether water trapped inside the old mines can be used as a geothermal energy source. Deep underground, temperatures remain relatively stable throughout the year. The mine water stays warmer than outside air in the winter, while it remains cooler in the summer. Using heat pumps, this underground water can help heat and cool buildings above ground.

Cumberland hopes to transform these mines into a shared community resource. The project could reduce carbon emissions, lower heating costs, and support future development.

Scientists describe the underground mine system as a giant natural heat exchanger. Because the tunnels stretch beneath much of the town, the system could eventually support municipal buildings, affordable housing projects, and even local industries that require stable temperatures, such as greenhouses and food processing facilities.

Coal once powered industries around the world, yet it also contributed to pollution and climate change. Now, the same underground structures left behind by coal extraction may help reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Around the world, researchers are increasingly exploring ways to reuse abandoned industrial spaces for sustainable technologies.

Turning Algae into Smart Microrobots

Víctor de la Asunción-Nadal et al. Light-switchable swarming of biohybrid microrobots. Sci. Adv., May 2026.

A new type of “biohybrid microrobot” made from living algae can organize themselves into controllable swarms using light. Instead of building tiny robots entirely from synthetic materials, researchers used the natural swimming abilities of the green microalga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and combined them with engineered light-control systems. These microorganisms naturally swim and respond to light, a behavior known as phototaxis. They discovered that different colors of light could make the algae either gather together into organized swarms or spread apart again.

Under blue light, the algae move upward and begin sticking to one another, forming dense clusters and swarm-like structures. Under red light, the algae return to a free-swimming state and disperse. By shining light through custom masks, the researchers could create swarms in almost any pattern they wanted, including stars, arrows, geometric shapes, and even maps of Earth. The scientists demonstrated that they could repeatedly assemble and disperse swarms, move them across surfaces, split one swarm into multiple smaller swarms, merge separate swarms together, and continuously morph the swarm into new shapes without fully dispersing it first.

The team also made use of AI by having it analyze images of wounds and generated custom light patterns matching the wound shape. The algae microrobots, loaded with biodegradable drug-carrying nanoparticles, could then gather onto medical tape and later be released onto the wound using light. This new research is a step toward future smart drug delivery and wound-healing systems.

Can Virtual Reality Help Fight Frailty?

Tian, X., Zhou, Y., Zhang, R. et al. The application potential of virtual reality technology in managing elderly frailty: a meta-analysis. Sci Rep, May 2026.

Frailty is described as a common aging-related medical syndrome marked by weakness, reduced resilience, balance problems, slower movement, and increased vulnerability to falls and hospitalization. Since traditional exercise programs can become repetitive and discouraging for older adults, researchers explored whether VR could provide a more engaging alternative.  

The researchers reviewed 9 randomized controlled trials involving 634 elderly participants with frailty or pre-frailty. The study used VR-based exercise systems such as Nintendo Wii Fit, Xbox Kinect, and other interactive “exergaming” programs designed to combine movement with immersive visual feedback. The findings showed that VR-based training significantly improved overall frailty status in older adults compared to standard exercise or usual care. Older adults using VR programs performed better on tests such as standing on one leg and lower-body strength exercises compared to those receiving standard care alone.

Unlike repetitive exercise routines, VR provide interactive environments that encourage movement through games, challenges, and real-time feedback. This may increase motivation and participation, two factors that are especially important in long-term rehabilitation.

However, the studies found little clear improvement in walking, speed, grip strength, fear of falling, or cognitive performance. Most of these trials were relatively small and lasted only a few weeks. Still, the technology points toward an important shift in elderly care. Rather than viewing rehabilitation as a passive medical routine, VR transforms it into an active and immersive experience.  

A group of friends are out in the city, shopping. While they are walking down a crowded sidewalk, they hear a siren. That siren is a warning of an attack. People begin to run and scream when the friends hear a loud sound and see a bright flash. They can hear multiple explosions far away. Everyone starts looking for shelter. As the friends start running, they hear another, bigger explosion and a voice saying: game over!

As human beings continue to develop, modern technologies and the diverse applications of them are simultaneously evolving, too. Virtual reality is one of these evolutions. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) defines virtual reality as “the use of computer technology to create the effect of an interactive three-dimensional world, in which the objects have a sense of spatial presence.” Virtual reality is a perception of something we cannot tangibly touch or see or hear, but that our senses perceive to be real. It focuses on the incorporation of engineering, design, and computer systems, with the main purpose being the simulation of different worlds. In virtual reality, users can experiment with a world that does not exist. “Virtual reality submerges humans into altered environments and processes, intensifies experience and imagination, thereby augmenting research and education” (Meinhold, 2013).

Even though virtual reality was created based on ideas developed in the 19^th century, only recently has it become sophisticated enough and affordable enough to interest large groups of people. Different devices, such as headsets, omni-directional treadmills, and special gloves, are utilized to stimulate human senses with immersion, interaction, and involvement (Pinho 2004). Virtual reality has many potential applications in today’s world, such as architecture, medicine, engineering, entertainment, sports, and the arts.

Virtual reality could be a vital addition to the classroom. Even though the technology is still developing, many experts are aware of its possible educational benefits. Nowadays, many teachers struggle to keep students engaged with classroom topics. Virtual reality could keep kids more engaged and help them better understand the material. VR hasn’t yet become widespread in the classroom: according to a survey by Samsung Electronics America, around 2% of teachers have employed virtual reality technology in the classroom. Despite this, the survey also found that teachers believe that virtual reality is a tool that could engage and motivate students.

Today’s generation of students has been widely exposed to digital technologies. This familiarity with technology has changed how today’s students learn. They’re primed to use VR and other new technologies to enhance their education.

One of the areas where virtual reality might be most effective is “experiential learning,” which is defined as any learning that supports students in applying their knowledge and conceptual understanding to real-world problems or authentic situations where the instructor directs and facilitates learning (Wurdinger & Carlson, 2010). Any type of activity related to experiential learning not only helps teachers to cover the topics needed, but also helps to increase students’ motivation to learn. According to the University of Texas at Austin, experiential learning brings many benefits to students, such as producing more autonomous learners, deepening learning, and helping students to apply the skills learned through authentic activities.

According to the Virtual Reality Society there are multiple benefits when incorporating virtual reality into the classroom: a more active learning experience, an immediate engagement that helps students to simultaneously develop their knowledge and skills, improved concentration, and a better understanding of complex theories and concepts. VR is suited to all types of learning styles. The physicality of it increases retention. As Derek Hughes says, “Members of the digital generation thrive on creative and engaging activities, varied sources of information, and a more energetic environment.”

Research conducted using the Vive VR platform in China has shown that virtual reality offers new ways to unlock student potential. According to this report, titled “The Impact of Virtual Reality on Academic Performance,” VR can deliver significant and rewarding outcomes for students and teachers by increasing cognitive memory. The results also showed that test scores and knowledge retention improved when a VR-based education was utilized. “The more a learner is able to participate in life-like engagement, the easier it is to personally feel a connection to the subject material, making it easier for application and retention of the subject matter” (Kolo, 2017).

Not only can VR expose students to new ideas and environments, it is also an accessible tool that can bring new practices to disadvantaged students, students in remote locations, and students with mobility issues.

Although virtual reality offers many potential advantages to society, it might have some disadvantages, too. It is still developing, and its positive and negative impacts on society have not been fully studied yet. One of the potential disadvantages of VR is that it deteriorates the connections between people. According to Paula Hicks, VR helps people to have new experiences and to be immersed in those experiences; however, due to the lack of touch between people, virtual reality contributes to the degradation of human interaction, much as any other technology does. As human beings, communication is a necessity, but different reports have shown that the increase in the use of technology has been degrading people’s ability to interact with each other. Virtual reality is able to simulate different environments; nevertheless, it cannot simulate the communication, body language, and experience of human interaction.

It has been shown that some technologies have exacerbated mental illnesses in certain people. VR would pose the same danger: Paul Darvasi states that the use of virtual reality might trigger or aggravate preexisting and latent emotional or psychological disorders. This might be due to less social and physical activity and less face to face communication.

Another possible disadvantage of virtual reality is addiction to the virtual world. It doesn’t take a study for us to know that young people spend more and more time on their phones and computers. Virtual worlds are increasingly easy to access. If a young person is not developing their interpersonal connections, they could come to prefer the virtual world to the real one.

Another disadvantage of virtual reality is the cost of advanced technology. Due to the fact that VR technology is still developing, the market for it is unoccupied; it is still quite expensive. Most of the time, virtual reality equipment is purchased by schools for educational purposes or by rich people that can afford it. As a result, not many people are able to experience VR; there is the danger that only the elites will be able to benefit from VR technology, furthering societal stratification between the haves and the have-nots.

Like any emerging technology, VR is not yet well-regulated. There have already been court cases about patents, copyrights, trademarks, and other contract issues, all related to VR. The content of virtual reality is another area that will need to be regulated. As the industry continues to grow, there will be multiple issues similar to the ones in the video game industry. Although VR has not yet been properly researched, some ethical issues have already arisen. According to Fiona McEvoy, VR has raised concerns about issues such as sensory vulnerability, social isolation, desensitization, overestimation of abilities, psychiatric problems, virtual criminality, manipulation, and lack of privacy.

Despite the problems, with proper regulation and widespread availability, virtual reality could offer enormous benefits to teachers and students. Hopefully, in the coming years, more research will be done on the use of VR in the classroom.

References

• Durbin, J. (2016, August 20). Is Virtual Reality Too Expensive To Be Popular? Retrieved March 04, 2018, from https://uploadvr.com/community-download-virtual-reality-expensive/
• Hicks, P. (2016, December 13). The Pros and Cons of Using Virtual Reality in the Classroom. Retrieved March 04, 2018, from https://elearningindustry.com/pros-cons-using-virtual-reality-in-the-classroom
• Kolo, K. (2017, December 15). Virtual Reality: The Next Generation of Education, Learning and Training. Retrieved February 28, 2018, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/12/13/virtual-reality-the-next-generation-of-education-learning-and-training/2/#22a3c6c8578b
• Moore, S. (2017, March 10). The Legal Reality of Virtual Reality. Retrieved March 04, 2018, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/schuylermoore/2017/03/10/the-legal-reality-of-virtual-reality/#45d4e7d62049
• Runcan, P. (2010, May 06). One minute more: Adolescent addiction for virtual world. Retrieved March 04, 2018, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042810006166
• Virtual Reality Society. (2017). What is Virtual Reality? Retrieved February 28, 2018, from https://www.vrs.org.uk/virtual-reality/what-is-virtual-reality.html
• Virtual Reality Society. (2017, June 28). Benefits of virtual reality in the classroom. Retrieved February 28, 2018, from https://www.vrs.org.uk/virtual-reality-education/benefits.html
• The university of Texas at Austin. (n.d.). Experiential Learning. Retrieved February 28, 2018, from https://facultyinnovate.utexas.edu/experiential-learning
• Vive, H. (2016, December 08). New Research Suggests VR Offers Exciting New Ways to Unlock Student Potential. Retrieved February 28, 2018, from https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-research-suggests-vr-offers-exciting-new-ways-to-unlock-student-potential-300375212.html

BioPhoto_AR application from Google store (Figure 1) enables to visualize a 2D image (Figure 2) in 3D (Figure 3).
	Figure 1. Android application to visualize a 2D image in 3D representation
	Figure 2. Target 2D image to visualize in 3D representation
	Figure 3. Three-dimensional representation of a 2D illustration in AR

Centuries ago, Shakespeare saw this coming. Macbeth, one of his most renowned creations, lampooned his sick wife’s physician with the terse phrase, “throw the physician to the dogs,” because the doctor could not cure his wife of her strange mental malaise. If the world is not yet ready with their own retorts to our physicians, they should prepare quickly, for surely this emerging disease will render our physicians impotent. And our psychologists should begin preparing for what will be one of their greatest challenges.

The world is undergoing a most unfortunate paradigm shift. The area that is worst hit by this trend is the very area that is central to our sense of human existence. It is the world of reality, the native home of man; the very real world where personal encounters between humans are made possible without any form of mediation, be it from the internet or other online portals. Mankind is hastily vacating this world of reality and all of its meanings for the virtual world of the internet, mediated by all forms of codes and mechanisms. Today, a great majority of human relationships have been transferred from the world of reality, where they involve personal encounters between humans, to the virtual world of the internet and other online platforms where personal encounters between humans are either ruled out or vastly different.

What this means is that there is hardly any human activity that cannot be accomplished with or without the physical presence of the parties involved. Do you want commerce or other business transactions? Online shops are there to take care of that. We have online dating, just like we have e-banking. Colleges now offer many courses online; whole degrees can be earned without ever stepping foot into a classroom. Facebook pages, 2go, Twitter, Badoo, and many other sites have created an entirely new cultural paradigm by transforming the nature of human relationships. Heck, even church activities can be observed through online fellowship.

Whether this transformation is for better or for worse is not so much the issue as is the fact that we have built a world we can no longer do without. There is a kind of surrogate culture settling in to take the place of traditional human forms of communication, a culture where technology acts as an improviso for man. Man now relates more with technical equipment than with his fellow human. In fact, there are so many proxies and technical bureaucracies making real life encounters between humans very difficult. And this is where the problem lies.

The real world is fast losing its appeal as the virtual world seems all the more handy for every human venture. Many people now find it hard to live in the real world. Consider the following incident. I began dating a woman I met over Facebook. For over six months or so, we were in contact with each other through chatting, calling, and sending emails or text messages, but never once set eyes on each other.

Then one day, something funny happened. My internet girlfriend of six months made a startling statement: she told me that she wanted to know me. My reaction was to say, “What do you mean? Do you mean that you don’t know me after six months of friendship?”

What happened when we finally met in person was an eye opener for me about the greatest problem facing mankind. Over the 20 minutes or so that our meeting lasted, the once enchanting, intelligent, and romantic girl of my virtual world became shy, timid, and uninteresting in the real world. I doubt if our eyes ever caught each other, since she could not bear to look me straight in the eye. She was shy in the most painful way and kept blushing like one brought out of darkness and thrust into the light.

I don’t mean to claim that I was completely relaxed with the whole thing. In fact, both of us were so uncomfortable that no sooner had we met than we started longing for our virtual world, where our friendship is mediated by software, hardware, codes, and other mechanisms. The irony of the whole thing is that we were most at home and ready to spend hours with each other in the virtual world.

It would not be difficult to refute this experience with a contrary story, as many friendships that begin on the internet also work out in person. But there are plenty that don’t, and many of these are because of the fact that the internet provides mediums where people can portray themselves differently than they actually are. It’s easier to lie about one’s achievements or physical capabilities on the internet than in person.

The internet can also, unfortunately, be a place for predators to stalk their victims. The late Cynthia Osokogu, of Lagos Nigeria, is an unfortunate example of someone who sought refuge in an internet relationship, only to end up the victim of violence when that relationship was brought into the real world. The virtual world provides cover for people looking to “be somebody else”. Unfortunately, beneath that cover, sometimes the “real” person is completely different – or even worse. .

Whether we like it or not, the virtual world has come to stay. In fact, it has become so indispensible that the world can no longer do without it. It has enlarged our sense of human possibilities; human life has become something of a seamless continuum, stretching from the limitations of the natural world of reality to the limitless world of the internet.

Yet some believe that we are losing our ability to live and thrive in that real world – the one of actual limits. And this is where psychologists must watch out. The greatest challenge that will face psychologists in the near future is that of getting man to accept and feel comfortable in the world of reality. Giving the immediacy of cyber-communication and its breathtaking speed, how many people are willing to travel the long distance necessary to visit a friend? All we ever need is to just dial some digits or sign on to Skype and we are connected with the person immediately. Though we are immediately “connected” with people through technology, no moment in human history has been so disconnected.

I often remember what happened the last time I went home from school to see my mother. After the initial embrace and greeting, she still held me tight and was unwilling to let me go. Though we’d been in touch with each other via phone calls, it was that moment of embrace that helped me to understand how much I missed her. Such intimacy was not possible during our online communications.

Not only are we missing this kind of physical intimacy online – but the virtual world is causing us to miss out on new connections in the real world. Maybe your neighbour on the bus would like to chat with you about the book you’re reading, but he’s too busy chatting with a distant friend on his phone. We’re becoming more isolated and estranged due to our reliance on our technical devices.

This situation brings many dangers. Not only are we more likely to feel lonely, but we’re less likely to look at our fellow men and women with empathy and altruism. We’ve become hardened to violence because it’s easy to be exposed to it online. When was the last time you shed tears for the tragedy and misfortune that befell a friend – or has the world become destitute of tragedy? Of course not! Tragedy is still feeding fat on humanity. We’re just more removed from it due to our technology. Tragedy has lost its human element.

The thrust of this whole article is to call attention to what mankind is losing. I hope to possibly challenge one and all to reclaim our basic human elements. I want seeing your mother, father, brother, sister, wife, husband or friend to suddenly jump to the top of your to-do-list. And I don’t mean phoning or sending messages, but seeing them – so you can hug, kiss, or embrace them. You’ve to go the long distance; to come out of your utopian world of online connection; to see things as they are and not as they appear (apologies to Kant).

We’re human beings. We need to be able to look into the eyes of those we love. We need to feel the rhythm of their heart so we can savour its unexpressed music. We need to see the lines on their face and their smile when they see us again. Though we’ve filled our mind with information we’ve found online, we’ve forgotten about this information – the information we learn from another human body. Don’t wait until death begins to knock at their door. Just get up and be on your way. Don’t wait any longer to get back to this old way of life.

It is important to understand the advantages and disadvantages of perceiving visual information. Throughout history, written and visual information (shapes and pictures) have been used together to perceive, think and, communicate. The discovery of the camera in 1895 enabled pictures of objects to be stored permanently. Photographic techniques also accelerated the development of science and industry.

In 1895, Roentgen discovered x-rays and developed a method to show a person’s bones and internal organs. This gave visual information-based perception more importance. In the past, we tried to sense and understand the surrounding world by using the naked eye within a narrow band of energy originating from the sun. Later on, we realized that we could see only a fraction of what was there.

Virtual reality

Virtual reality environments make perceiving and learning easier and more effective. Events that are expensive and require a long time to perceive and learn can be perceived and learned with less effort and less cost. For example, a virtual reality environment enables a person to tour the ocean’s bottom and deep space within several minutes. In addition, it reveals formerly unseen micro- and macro-objects visible to the naked eye, just as if they were being seen in a dream or were real.

The most powerful visual information techniques are in the advertising, marketing, news, and entertainment sectors. The virtual reality environment is just one cutting-edge development. To gain self-control and learn effectively, an individual can be placed in such an environment, which fully replicates the real world. Such environments are used, for example, to train pilots and doctors. Another suitable use would be to train Muslims for Hajj and Umrah. Such an experience would familiarize them with Makka and Madina, thereby lessening the potential for unexpected problems and better prepare them intellectually and spiritually for these holy voyages.

Visual information and education

The techniques of making objects visible started with discovery of the microscope and the telescope. When combined with multimedia technology, they have an important place in modern education. The correct and effective use of visual information and written information-based perception is improving the quality of education. Similarly, popular Web pages have been transformed into marketing environments that convey their messages through the combined use of scripts, images, sounds, and animation.

Surrounded by these visual tools and techniques, the media has a greater influence upon society than ever before, for it controls the visual information. Educators should teach their students how to analyze and criticize visual information, for producing fake computer-produced images in a visual information-based environment is almost as easy as producing fake written information with a copy machines. They must learn not to believe everything that they see, just as their parents learned not to believe everything that they read in the newspapers.

Conclusion

During the last several centuries, humanity has been led to believe that seeing is believing and don’t believe in what you can’t see. However, advanced visual processing techniques prove that not everything that we see is correct. In fact, such techniques might actually misled individuals, for they can produce images or virtual reality environments very close to the real one.