Google can take you on a VR trip to the Great Barrier Reef

One of Google's more exciting announcements at least year's I/O was Expeditions, a VR kit that let educators lead students on virtual field trips to far flung locales like Mars and the Great Wall of China. Now, you can add two more places to that list: The Great Barrier Reef and Buckingham Palace. The virtual Great Barrier Reef expedition was designed by none other than Sir David Attenborough and produced by Alchemy VR, while the Buckingham Palace tour was made possible thanks to the UK's Royal Collection Trust. There's even a YouTube 360 video of the Palace, so you can easily use your phone to take a private tour of the Queen's art collection.

And that's not all. Last September, Google introduced an Expeditions Pioneer Program, where schools could sign up to be visited by an Expeditions team, get a complete kit and be instructed on how to use it. Since then, more than 500,000 students have taken part in the program. Today, Google is launching a beta version of the app for certain schools that want to sign up for it. Selected educators would be able to download the Android app, use it in class and then let Google know of any bugs or desired features. Interested educators can go ahead and sign up for the beta here. And if you want to go on your own little virtual adventure, you can head on over to the Pioneer Program page to see what other places you can explore. They'll be adding more locations in the next few months.