--- --- # Virtual Reality Is Taking Lonely Patients Out of Their Beds by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Dec 5, 2016 5:00 PM UTC by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Dec 5, 2016 5:00 PM UTC **1\.** [**To speed recovery, virtual reality is taking lonely patients out of their beds.**](http://mashable.com/2016/12/04/joy-virtual-reality-loneliness/#IJ1nbWaaE5qT) By Ariel Bogle in Mashable **2\.** [**Explore how our disposable culture is ruining paradise — and learn what we can do.**](http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2016/12/world/midway-plastic-island/) By Nick Paton Walsh, Ingrid Formanek, Jackson Loo and Mark Phillips at CNN **3\.** [**In medical research, is there such a thing as too much data?**](http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/11/28/503035862/big-data-coming-in-faster-than-biomedical-researchers-can-process-it) By Richard Harris at NPR **4\.** [**Could we really ever live on Mars?**](http://theweek.com/articles/659355/could-humans-actually-live-mars) By Laurie Vazquez in the Week **5\.** [**Makeup isn’t suddenly genderless. It’s always been.**](https://mic.com/articles/160407/makeup-isn-t-suddenly-genderless-it-always-has-been#.xqGXU9iLa) By Rachel Lubitz in Mic  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/) _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ Virtual Reality Is Taking Lonely Patients Out of Their Beds ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4590396/virtual-reality-is-taking-lonely-patients-out-of-their-beds/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4590396/virtual-reality-is-taking-lonely-patients-out-of-their-beds/"},"headline":"Virtual Reality Is Taking Lonely Patients Out of Their Beds","datePublished":"2016-12-05T17:00:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:59:16.424Z","description":"These are today's best ideas","url":"https://time.com/4590396/virtual-reality-is-taking-lonely-patients-out-of-their-beds/","keywords":["Innovation","Mars","Virtual Reality","makeup"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4590396/virtual-reality-is-taking-lonely-patients-out-of-their-beds/","name":"Virtual Reality Is Taking Lonely Patients Out of Their Beds"}}]}] ```