Inside scoop on Vatican’s groundbreaking virtual tour

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VATICAN CITY — As a participant in Villanova University’s Vatican internship program, I had the opportunity to be a part of a groundbreaking project.This Monday, in celebration of the feast of the dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the Vatican website launched a state-of-the-art virtual tour of the basilica.Paul Wilson working on the virtual tour of the Basilica of St. John Lateran in October. (Photo by Villanova intern, Heather West) The tour of St. John Lateran is only a small part of a monumental project in which a team of Villanova University professors and students photographed the...

Published on Saturday 31st of July 2010 07:12:11 AM

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Thousands of Christians form 'virtual connection' to J'lem

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In an effort to connect with Israel both spiritually and physically, tens of thousands of Christians across the globe have watched live webcasts of Jerusalem holy sites on the Internet since the free service was launched several months ago, the head of a new Christian on-line broadcast provider said Friday. More than 30,000 people have viewed the webcasts on www.ipraytv.com since its launch four months ago during the Feast of the Tabernacles/Succot, said Mike Peros, founder and CEO of IPrayTV. The site, which rose to prominence after its live webcasts of Christmas in Bethlehem, has attracted Christians of various denominations...

Published on Saturday 31st of July 2010 07:12:11 AM

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Avatars consume as much electricity as Brazilians (Second Life is Destroying the Planet)

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Tony Walsh has, as others do, some doubts about whether Second Life is sustainable as a business. But he also poses another question that I hadn't come across before: "Is Second Life sustainable ecologically?" He quotes Philip Rosedale, the head of Linden Lab, the company behind the virtual world: "We're running at full power all the time, so we consume an enormous amount of electrical power in co-location facilities [where they house their 4,000 server computers] ... We're running out of power for the square feet of rack space that we've got machines in. We can't for example use [blade]...

Published on Saturday 31st of July 2010 07:12:11 AM

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Online divorcee jailed after killing virtual hubby

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A 43-year-old Japanese woman whose sudden divorce in a virtual game world made her so angry that she killed her online husband's digital persona has been arrested on suspicion of hacking, police said Thursday.

Published on Saturday 31st of July 2010 07:12:11 AM

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Virtual Biopsy Can Tell Whether Colon Polyp Is Benign Without Removal, Researchers Say

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Virtual Biopsy Can Tell Whether Colon Polyp Is Benign Without Removal, Researchers Say ScienceDaily (May 22, 2008) — A probe so sensitive that it can tell whether or not a cell living within the human body is veering towards cancer development may revolutionize how future colonoscopies are done, say researchers from the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla. Investigators have found that technology known as a high resolution confocal endomicroscopy probe system can determine whether a colon polyp is benign (not precancerous) - without having to remove it for examination by a pathologist. Their study, to be presented at the Digestive...

Published on Saturday 31st of July 2010 07:12:11 AM

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Researchers teach 'Second Life' avatar to think

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TROY, N.Y. - Edd Hifeng barely merits a second glance in "Second Life." A steel-gray robot with lanky limbs and linebacker shoulders, he looks like a typical avatar in the popular virtual world. But Edd is different. His actions are animated not by a person at a keyboard but by a computer. Edd is a creation of artificial intelligence, or AI, by researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, who endowed him with a limited ability to converse and reason. It turns out "Second Life" is more than a place where pixelated avatars chat, interact and fly about. It's also a frontier...

Published on Saturday 31st of July 2010 07:12:11 AM

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Virtual Mega-quake Shows Earthquake Could Inflict Major Damage On Pacific Northwest US

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Virtual Mega-quake Shows Earthquake Could Inflict Major Damage On Pacific Northwest USScientists used a supercomputer-driven "virtual earthquake" to explore likely ground shaking in a magnitude 9.0 megathrust earthquake in the Pacific Northwest. Peak ground velocities are displayed in yellow and red. The legend represents speed in meters per second (m/s) with red equaling 2.3 m/s. Although the largest ground motions occur offshore near the fault and decrease eastward, sedimentary basins lying beneath some cities amplify the shaking in Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, and Vancouver, increasing the risk of damage. (Credit: Kim Olsen, SDSU) ScienceDaily (Feb. 28, 2008) — On January 26,...

Published on Saturday 31st of July 2010 07:12:11 AM

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