The activities and exhibits organised for the Techno Surprises Theme Week have been giving several opportunities to inquisitive individuals - both adults and youngsters - to understand science in a practical and unique manner.

From the nuances of science in geography, biology, space science, geophysics or chemistry, demonstrations of scientific experiments have been made extremely simple to understand.
Perhaps, among all the theme weeks organised for the Dubai Summer Surprises, the Techno Surprises Week scores maximum on the learning aspect from a student's perspective.

At Deira City Centre, the specially created Virtual Reality Station gives visitors an exposure to one of the most talked about advances in recent years - Virtual Reality. A far cry from one-dimensional books and computer screens, virtual reality takes the learning experience into a three-dimensional platform.

The station houses six vertical plain glass cubicles in which youngsters and adults wearing strange garb - a sensory vision visor headset, a 3D stereo sound vibratory back-pack, and a joy-stick - enjoy their first brush with the Virtual Reality experience.

"Discovery and experience become the best teacher at this station that we have created for the Techno Surprises Week" said Hani Alkhadra, an official at the Virtual Reality station.
"Virtual reality is a cutting-edge technology that allows us to step through the computer screen into a three-dimensional, interactive environment.

"By putting on a special visor and gloves, it places us inside a simulated environment that really looks and feels like the real world. "Through virtual reality, we're convinced we're in another world experiencing some event, and doing things that don't physically exist," Alkhadra said.

"When we put on a virtual reality visor, we enter a world where everything is possible- visiting New York, learning to operate heavy machinery, travelling back in time to Ancient Rome, or flying through the solar system.

"Virtual reality combines the power of a computer, the information of an encyclopaedia, the imagery of a motion picture, and the excitement of real life into one new learning experience."

Ten-year-old Uzair Ameen Merchant, a student of Dubai Gem School, was thoroughly fascinated with the experience. He said: "I have played a lot of computer games before, but the game I played at this station was the best ever. I was actually fighting monsters with a knife and a lighted log, and getting hurt in the process. It is a very real feeling."

Mumzy Merchant, Uzair's mother, said: "Uzair is very fond of computer technology and when we saw this station, he immediately requested that he wanted to figure out what it was."

An onlooker would notice that the child interacts in virtual reality the same way he interacts with the real world. The child can look at the bottom of a table in a virtual world by physically bending down and turning his head upward, just as he would in real life. He can even "throw" a ball that doesn't physically exist by "grabbing" the ball, and propelling his arms forward in a throwing motion.

Twelve-year-old Nelissa Razig was so immersed in her virtual game that she was shocked when her mother shook her shoulder. Nelissa said: "I was within the game, and any motion from outside is quite shocking. It disturbs the game and adds an action which I am not in control of. I literally got hit by the car racing towards me."

Nelissa studies in France, and she spends every summer in Dubai, as her father works here. Her brother, Jordan, prefers spending their time in Dubai rather than France during July and August. The Virtual Reality station will continue to remain at Deira City Centre until tomorrow. The station is open from 4 to 10pm.