Virtual Reality News and Research

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Virtual reality and music may help lower blood pressure during emergencies

A virtual reality landscape of a flowing river and trees, accompanied by classical music, can help to reduce patients' blood pressure significantly within 15 minutes of their being seen in an emergency department.

25 Sep 2026

From lab to living room: Revolutionary Utah bionic arm enters first home trial

At age 16, Alexander “Avi” Davidson fell 35 feet from the top of a telephone pole, an accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down and led to the amputation of his left arm below the elbow.

24 Sep 2026

Virtual reality distraction helps claustrophobic patients complete cardiac scans

Patients who experience anxiety or claustrophobia can have difficulty completing important cardiac imaging, including Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Computerized Tomography (CT) scans.

8 Sep 2026

ACC Quality Summit 2026 to focus on cardiovascular patient care improvements

The American College of Cardiology (ACC) Quality Summit 2026 will take place on September 16-18 in Orlando, connecting the cardiovascular quality improvement community to share ideas, learn from real-world successes and drive measurable improvements in the quality, safety and value of patient care.

3 Sep 2026

Study shows how stress forces brain to prioritize memories

The brain is the machine that perceives, analyses, sorts, stores and prioritizes our memories. However, not all experiences and perceptions are stored in the same way, and not everything is remembered equally, especially when under pressure or emotional stress.

20 Jul 2026

Structured setup drives patient engagement with virtual reality therapy

A new study published in JMIR XR and Spatial Computing demonstrates that the way virtual reality therapeutics (VRx) are introduced to patients is a critical factor in how successfully they adopt the technology.

7 Jul 2026

Scent-enhanced virtual reality eased negative emotions after use

Integrating scents into virtual reality may reduce negative emotions in isolated environments, but more research is needed for sustained psychological benefits.

3 Jul 2026

Mice move strategically to gather hidden visual information in VR

Animals don't experience the world passively. A hawk tilts its head to track prey. A person leans forward to read a sign. Scientists call this "active sensing": moving the body to gather better information.

30 Jun 2026

New rehabilitation platform combines virtual reality and nerve stimulation for stroke recovery

Researchers at the Medical University of Vienna and ETH Zurich have developed a rehabilitation platform for people suffering from the long-term effects of a stroke, which combines virtual reality with targeted sensory nerve stimulation.

26 Jun 2026

Zebrafish study shows how visual surroundings reshape the eye's retina

The environment experienced by young zebrafish influences both the shape and electrical activity of the neurons in the eye, which impacts subsequent behavior.

23 Jun 2026

Prolonged Instagram use may change how the brain perceives our bodies

Instagram use could influence not only how we see our bodies, but also how our brain perceives as "ours" the bodies we inhabit.

19 Jun 2026

Digital simulations struggle to teach "tacit learning" in medicine

A new correspondence highlights a critical gap in modern medical education, arguing that digital simulations and virtual reality fail to transmit the hands-on "tacit learning" essential for clinical practice.

11 Jun 2026

Risk-taking during play may strengthen children’s real-world safety skills

Children who take more risks on the playground make safe decisions more quickly when crossing a busy street.

19 May 2026

Autistic people gain measurable police-interaction skills after short VR training

A randomized controlled trial found that Floreo’s virtual reality Police Safety Module helped autistic teens and adults reduce fidgeting during live police-interaction assessments compared with video-based BeSAFE training. Both groups reported greater knowledge and comfort after training, but the clearest behavioral gains were seen in the VR group, supporting immersive practice as a promising tool for safer police encounters.

10 May 2026

Virtual reality training improves police interactions for autistic individuals

A new study led by researchers at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and St. Joseph's University found that an innovative virtual reality intervention was helpful for improving interactions between autistic teens and adults and law enforcement officers.

5 May 2026

Task switching between organ types increases patient mortality rates

When transplant surgeons switched between different organ types in consecutive surgeries, one-year mortality rates in patients increased by 14.8 percent, according to new Virginia Tech research.

30 Apr 2026

Dynamic AI models detect body tipping points to forecast disease before symptoms

The editorial, "Dynamics-driven medical big data mining: dynamic approaches to early disease forecasting and individualized care," published in Intelligent Medicine (February 2026, Volume 6, Issue 1), was written by Lu Wang (Tianjin Medical University), Han Lyu (Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University), and Bin Sheng (Shanghai Jiao Tong University).

10 Apr 2026

Scientists use living muscle to reanimate paralyzed organs

What if a technology could reanimate parts of the body that have lost their connection to the brain - like a bladder that can no longer empty due to a spinal cord injury, or intestines that can't push food forward due to Crohn's disease? What if this technology could also send sensations such as hunger or touch back to the brain?

31 Mar 2026

MIT engineers design ultrasound wristband to track complex hand movements

The next time you're scrolling your phone, take a moment to appreciate the feat: The seemingly mundane act is possible thanks to the coordination of 34 muscles, 27 joints, and over 100 tendons and ligaments in your hand.

25 Mar 2026