Virtual reality for earthquake fears
By Janet Raloff
From Munich, at the Euroscience Open Forum meeting
A team of researchers is developing computer-generated, virtual reality technology to prepare 12-to-16-year-old Greek children, including those with special needs, for a terrifying event they’re likely to encounter: an earthquake.
The researchers created a computer model of a local school filled with virtual students. The model triggers sounds, rolling motions, and tumult associated with a major quake. Psychologist Ioannis Tarnanas of the Western Macedonia Research Center in Kozani, Greece, then recruited 50 children with Down syndrome and 90 children without that disorder to don headphones and scene-projecting goggles to experience a quake hitting the virtual school.