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What can you learn to do with a virtual reality app?

Answer: perform surgery

These days, developing an app isn’t exactly brain surgery — except when it is.

Touch Surgery replicates the steps of surgical procedures that allows users to move their fingers on a smartphone or tablet’s touchscreen as if they are “scalpels.” The idea is to help surgeons in training get as much “hands on” experience as possible before they’re actually presented with a human patient. The app's developers worked with animators and graphic designers to replicate human anatomy in 3-D, and partnered with hospitals and universities to make the procedures as realistic as possible. It also pairs with virtual reality (VR) headsets to create a true immersive experience.

Ultimately Touch Surgery’s goal is a bit grander than simply helping young medical students practice their skills. As smartphone use grows worldwide, the company’s founders are hoping that the simulator will give access to surgical training to people and communities who currently do not have it. 

“That’s why we created Touch Surgery,” Co-Founder Andre Chow told Mashable. “To be part of that story that helps scale surgery to really meet global demand.”

Lauren Kinkade is the managing editor for Government Technology magazine. She has a degree in English from the University of California, Berkeley, and more than 15 years’ experience in book and magazine publishing.