
Glastonbury Festival get to experience nature through VR
Festival goers will be able to try virtual reality (VR) nature experiences that researchers say can help with mental health and pain relief.Dr Sam Hughes of the University of Exeter is to exhibit the benefits of nature though VR, art, sound and film at Glastonbury Festival later this month.The director of Exeter Pain Lab said immersing people in nature can reduce the amount of pain they feel and VR made nature accessible to those with mobility issues.Dr Hughes said the festival was "a great way to showcase the ability to use VR to deliver nature and its benefits to people from the comfort of their own homes".
'Nature at home'
He said the VR headsets would immerse festival goers in environments including forests, mountains and lakes.He said: "Pain is inherently a psychological construct."If we can immerse people in nature what we've found is that this can actually reduce the amount of pain people experience."While "real nature is always going to be the gold standard", he added, VR can deliver "some of these beneficial therapeutic effects of nature at home".The immersive experience is part of Brainwaves and Birdsong, a public engagement initiative by a team of scientists, mural artists, music composers and wildlife documentary makers.The project is funded through the Chronic Pain Neurotechnology Network.Glastonbury Festival is set to run from 25 to 29 June at Worthy Farm in Somerset.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Independent
25 minutes ago
- The Independent
Warning over self-swab ‘rape kits' marketed to university students
Self-swab 'rape kits' are being marketed to university students in the UK, allowing individuals to collect and store DNA evidence of an alleged perpetrator. Rape Crisis England and Wales, along with forensic experts, have expressed serious concerns that evidence collected by these kits may not be legally admissible due to contamination risks and lack of comprehensive forensic examination. Critics warn that the kits could give survivors 'false hope' regarding legal outcomes, as professional forensic examinations are conducted in controlled environments and include broader evidence collection. Companies selling the kits, such as 'Enough', claim they act as a deterrent to sexual violence and offer a simpler reporting method, with some students reporting positive perceptions. Beyond legal admissibility, concerns also include the kits' inability to provide the crucial trauma-informed, in-person support that survivors need, which is offered by specialist support services.


Times
28 minutes ago
- Times
This defrizzing hair treatment has changed my life
I have had the most amazing hair treatment. It used to be marketed as 'Hair Botox' before actual Botox objected, but that gives you the idea. It irons out all the frizz, but without the hideous formaldehyde component of comparable treatments of yore. It is also much more effective — life-changingly so, for me. For the first time in my entire life, I can wash and go. I appreciate that most people have always been able to do this, but not me, or at least not for years. As my hair has got finer and as I have had to colour it more often, it has become a hellscape of frizz if left unattended. The treatment is called Hyrolox and comes via Ondine Cowley at Gielly Green, London (from £400, She didn't invent it — that was clever Brazilians — but she refined it and then imported it. When she suggested it might work for me, I was highly sceptical: I do not think of my hair as robust, and for this reason I try to keep well away from chemical treatments. But the idea of it being smooth was irresistible, and she kept saying she thought it would change my life — without harming my hair. On the contrary, she said it would rejuvenate it. Ondine, smooth and gorgeous of lock, has — or had — unmanageably frizzy hair herself (though you would never believe it to look at her), and I'm always encouraged by people who are brilliant adverts for their product. So I went for it, feeling slightly mad for doing so: how could it possibly work on my nightmare hair? It has changed my life, more than anything I've ever had done other than micro extensions (also at Gielly Green, courtesy of Charlie, a stone-cold genius. I wouldn't dream of seeing anybody else, anywhere. She is amazing at doing extensions for volume on thinning hair, ie me). Tragically the extensions had to come out before the Hyrolox could be applied. It goes on for however long Ondine determines, and your hair is then ironed straight but, crucially, not flat. I don't know how it's not pancake flat, but it isn't. You then have to sleep on it overnight and go back the next day. It also leaches colour out of your hair: I left the salon not only very thin of hair, but also half grey — I was having my long overdue colour and extensions redone the following day. The bit that wasn't grey was a really startling shade of pale orange. I walked from the salon to my hotel with, literally, a bag on my head, and went to dinner that night with a huge headscarf that kept slipping off. No matter: it was worth it. • Read more beauty product reviews and advice from our experts This isn't going to mean anything to many of you, but it will mean everything to those of you who have the same issue: I can wash my hair, rough dry it, and it is perfect. It is shiny, younger-feeling, with not an iota or frizz, dryness, flyawayness or anything else. It is sleek but not flat. It's the best it has looked in years. I have gone from actively avoiding washing it because it takes so long to make it look reasonable to washing it every two seconds because I can't quite believe how smooth and pliable it looks three minutes later. No product, no nothing. Not only that, but it's in the best nick it has ever been in, even though before the Hyrolox it was in the worst nick imaginable. It's the best hair treatment I've ever had and I could not recommend it more highly. I could actually weep with gratitude. Buy Nighties from If Only If, several of which are more than nice enough to wear as summer dresses (I love the brown gingham, also the lemon yellow). Before I discovered these people, nighties were a grim nightmare of faux-sexy or faux-prim. No longer! From £85, The Sunday Times Style Beauty awards are back for 2025. You could win a luxury five-star holiday at Sani Resort in Greece, plus we have more than £25,000 worth of beauty prizes up for grabs. To be entered into the prize draw, vote for your favourite products at


The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Millions of Freeview watchers hit by big Channel 4 change and must re-scan TV boxes to keep popular channel
MILLIONS of Freeview watchers have been hit by a big channel change as viewers are urged to re-scan their TV boxes. Channel 4 has boosted Freeview coverage for one of its channels this month, meaning you'll need to retune to continue watching. As part of Freeview's monthly channel update, 4seven transitioned to a new frequency as of Wednesday 18 June. This is because of an important technical change to the way the Channel 4 offshoot channel is broadcast on Freeview. It will give more Freeview users access to the channel at a time when 4seven is increasingly used as an overspill for live events. 4seven has recently become the home of a selected number of men's European Championship U21 games, including Netherlands v Ukraine and Slovenia v Czechia. They have previously broadcast coverage of the Paralympic Opening and Closing Ceremonies. But for the time being, 4seven is broadcasting on both new and old frequencies. At the end of this transition period, the old copy of 4seven will carry a retune caption. But you can retune today to ensure continued reception of 4seven on channel 49. Following your retune, you should see 4seven on channel 49 and the old copy of 4seven on channel 790. What's better is the channel now has universal coverage on Freeview. It's now available to all viewers in the Channel Islands and Isle of Man in addition to UK viewers who can only receive a reduce Freeview channel line-up. If you're a viewer who only receives around 20 basic Freeview channels at your address, you can retune to add 4seven to channel 49. It's a big bonus to some viewers as some remote locations with reduced access to Freeview are also affected by poor internet speeds meaning they can't stream TV either. This follows a reconfiguration of the frequency that carries the main Channel 4 service on Freeview, meaning the 4seven signal can now be aired alongside its parent channel. Kay Burley joins This Morning in TV return after departure from Sky News It's not the only Freeview change seen this month either. Just last week it was announced that Rewind TV is now on channel 81. It has swapped places with Blaze +1 and is now the next-door channel to the vintage Talking Pictures channel. There's also a new shopping channel with Must Have Ideas setting up shop on channel 96. The service was previously exclusive to satellite TV such as Sky and on YouTube but a retune will now add the channel to your service. Millions of Freeview watchers can also enjoy three new channels this month. Starting from this week, viewers will be able to tune into a number of channels including ITV Quiz, a fresh channel dedicated to quizzes.