Reaching Through the Net to Touch - This in from wired. The technology discussed in this article would allow people to transmit touches over the net via force-feedback or similar technology. As I understand it, both people would wear special gloves--if a person was feeling a round object, the person on the other end would feel pressure or vibrations at the appropriate points. Apparently, this system is evolved enough so that people can guess correctly if the other person is holding a round or square object 80% of the time. There's also talk on the site of a smell-transmitter utilizing a complex herb/chemical system.

The benefits of such a system to education are enormous. For one thing, teachers could use the technology to help children learn to write. (Imagine how ironic this is; using computers to help students write manually.) I suppose the technology could also be used negatively, to give errant students a "slap on the wrist," though I hope it won't come to that! I get the feeling that there are probably other implications for education that I'm just not feeling at the moment..