This week’s STEM news includes a self driving bus, Youtube and The New York Times’ adoption of Google’s Cardboard, Lytro’s Immerse, and more. Above is the back view of Google’s virtual reality viewing device, called Cardboard. Creative commons image from Maurizio Pesce.    

Lauren Yang | News Editor  

1. Driverless car pioneers in Greece

Greek passengers now have a new mode of modern transportation: driverless buses. To ensure maximum safety, the bus only goes 12 mph, does not change lanes, and stops and waits for obstacles to move out of its path. Even so, this marks a landmark milestone for autonomous vehicles as it is the first completely autonomous bus to drive in real world traffic with passengers. Driverless buses may soon join Tesla’s autopilot cars in the United States if the Greek busses prove successful. Read more about this here.

2. See everything from Youtube videos to New York Times articles in 3D
Google’s Cardboard is an affordable eyepiece made of cardboard (who would have guessed!) that enables the user to experience multimedia in 3D. Both Youtube and the New York Times have utilized Cardboard to provide an immersive and new way to view videos and content through a 3D lens. Google’s Cardboard has come a long way since the Coat of Arms staff first tested it out at the 2015 Maker Faire, as the product now boasts of spunky exterior designs and easier assembly instructions. Read more about Youtube and the New York Times’ use of Cardboard.

The video above illustrates how solar winds have been accelerating atmospheric ions into space. Video from NASA.

3. Why is Mars losing its atmosphere?
NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission recently discovered the reason why Mars has been losing its atmosphere — solar winds. Scientists originally thought that Mars had its atmosphere stripped away because of meteor showers and a weak magnetic field. However, the MAVEN mission points out otherwise. Read more about it here.

4. Amazon launches first physical bookstore
Amazon opened up its first traditional bookstore in the Seattle’s University Village. The store sells the most popular books from the online Amazon Bookstore, Goodreads, and more, and features customer reviews under the book. Amazon’s bookstore also sells Kindles and other electronic reading devices that are on display for users to test out. Click here to read more about this. 

Lytro Immerge from Lytro on Vimeo.

Lytro released this video to explain its newest product, called Immerge. Video from Lytro.

5. Capture in virtual reality
Lytro, a company that previously sold cameras that allows users to refocus their photos after taking them, is now aiming to put another camera on the market — Immerge. Immerge is an arrangement of cameras in a spherical formation that is capable of capturing events in virtual reality. Although Immerge is currently in the prototyping stage, Lytro plans on releasing it for sale next year. Read more about it here.