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Teen girl pink hair wear vr headset goggles hold controllers play active shooter vr video game futuristic immersive simulator virtual reality 3D 360 cyber game stand at home in liv

Fifty young patients used an underwater virtual world or guided imagery during two unsedated procedures and virtual reality helped most when fears about pain were already high

By filling a patient’s sight and hearing with an interactive underwater world, virtual reality can draw attention away from a needle or dressing change. A clinical trial involving children and young adults found that this immersive approach eased procedure pain about as well as guided imagery, while producing a clearer reduction in short-term anxiety. The…

Isolated_astronaut_resting_inside_a_spacecraft

Space Explainer

Five analog astronauts spent seven days inside a Moon-like habitat and finished with higher cortisol plus rising oxidative stress as sleep and circadian rhythms came under strain

Tourists viewing snow covered landscape and high waterfall, Iceland, Europe. Iceland nature 2017 winter cold

Health Explainer

Thirty-two adults faced carbon dioxide panic challenges and 30 seconds of cold facial immersion slowed heart rates while reducing induced panic and anxiety

A stunning digital rendering of Earth from space, featuring a satellite and the vast universe

Humans Explainer

Across 66 astronauts and cosmonauts, a study found longer missions drew more coping humor, while self-defeating jokes rose later in a space career

Astronaut crew cooperating in an isolated habitat

Humans Explainer

NASA data from 83 astronauts and analog crewmates found that tidy, considerate behavior explained roughly 40 percentage points more of whether a crew would work together again, giving mission planners a measure of the daily habits that help isolated teams stay workable

Majestic night sky full of stars behind dark tree silhouette in a rural setting

Humans Explainer

Five women watched nine planetarium scenes three times and a 0.001-lux new moon sky gave the strongest healing scores while the blackest dome first raised stress before dark adaptation gradually eased it

Person floating during zero gravity training

Humans Explainer

Parabolic flights showed why men who could not stand routine often handled weightlessness better, as a study of 24 volunteers found boredom scores and motion sickness history helped classify poor adaptation with 93.33 percent accuracy

Serene foggy beach scene on the Oregon coast with sea stacks and nearby coastal homes

Oceans Explainer

A 30-second message telling Oregon beach visitors they could help move other people to act raised climate-action intent in a 2,414-person field experiment, while warnings about ocean acidification and appeals to coastal attachment produced no detectable lift and did not change the final sticker choice meant to mimic real-world follow-through

Thirty seconds was enough for researchers to measure a small shift in what people said they might do next about climate and ocean change, but only when the message focused on a very specific human belief: whether a person feels able to encourage someone else to act. In a field study of 2,414 coastal visitors…

Two astronauts in silver space suits exploring a rocky, desert-like environment, resembling Mars

Humans Explainer

A 520-day Mars mission simulation found five times more conflict with Mission Control than inside the crew and it showed how sleep strain, stress and just two vulnerable crewmembers could dominate the social pressure of a 17-month voyage

The Mars500 isolation study kept six men inside a sealed habitat for 520 days, long enough to mimic the travel time of a classic round-trip mission to Mars. When researchers later analyzed the weekly mood reports, sleep patterns, stress ratings and conflict logs, one result stood out. The crew did argue among themselves, but the…

Drone shot over a vibrant mangrove forest with a wooden boardwalk and gazebo in Thailand

Oceans Explainer

Marine reserve trips left 228 tourists with two distinct paths toward conservation, as awe tracked the easier promises to recycle and save resources while nature connection aligned more strongly with donating, volunteering and asking others to stop harming the coast

One of the study’s central puzzles was simple enough for any traveler to recognize. People can come home from a striking day in nature feeling amazed, calmer and more connected to the living world, yet those feelings do not all point toward the same kind of next step. A survey-based study of 228 tourists visiting…

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