European scientists have combined virtual reality with treadmills to allow users to "walk through" the ancient city as it looked before the devastating volcanic eruption.
A striking seaweed, ribbon-like metal, and twisted geometry are just some of the winners of the 2007 International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge.
Philippine and Malaysian laws now allow only officially approved engineers to make GPS-based maps, a move that activists say will stifle tribes' efforts to win land rights.
Images and survivor stories embedded in the virtual globe bring the violence up close and personal, while real-time spin-offs aim to track and perhaps deter armed militias.
Low-lying regions at risk of being swamped by rising sea levels had their virtual equivalents flooded as part of a campaign to raise global warming awareness.
A few simple rules have created a surprisingly complex ecosystem of cannon plants, gridlice, and other strange creatures in the virtual world of Second Life.
Wearing tags traditionally used for tracking, the marine recruits are helping scientists collect data that could one day be used to generate ocean forecasts.
