Tag: VISION

Good news, everyone! If you've been staving off your desire for the totally rad technology of 3-D because you fear that the hand-held 3DS may make you (or your children) blind, ophthalmologists have a polite reminder: that 3-D is a close approximation to the way our eyes normally see. According to Harvard opthalmologist Dr. David Hunter, there is little evidence to support Nintendo's claim that ...

Researchers at Cornell University have developed a new retinal prosthetic that allows blind mice to clearly see an image of a baby's face. According to Science News, Sheila Nirenberg and Chethan Pandarinath used the prosthetic to mimic the actions of the retina's photoreceptor cells, which serve as key links between the eye and the brain. In a healthy eye, these cells convert every image viewed ...

Researchers at University Eye Clinic in Tübingen, Germany have begun testing a new retinal implant designed to restore sight to the blind. Previous experiments like this have employed external cameras, but the new device uses the patient's eye itself to help collect and process visual data. A small chip is implanted in the rear of the eye, where it converts light into electronic impulses. ...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved a miniature eye implant that promises to drastically improve vision in the elderly by replicating and enhancing the eye's natural lens. According to CBC News, VisionCare Ophthalmic Technologies got the go-ahead from the FDA to continue implanting a miniature telescope into the eyes of elderly people who are suffering from end-stage ...

Ever since the age of four, Ben Michaels has suffered from amblyopia, or severe lazy eye syndrome, in his right eye. The condition gradually weakened the eye's vision, and when Ben was at the tender age of six, was at risk of permanent blindness. Desperate, Ben's mother Maxine sought the advice of Ken Nischal, a consultant at Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital. Nischal's professional ...

A team of MIT Media Lab researchers has created a simple and cheap device that performs on-the-spot eye exams. The Near-Eye Tool for Refractive Assessment (NETRA) is a small plastic device that attaches to a cell phone screen. Users peer into it, and press buttons on the phone until a set of green lines overlaps with a set of red lines on the screen. In less than two minutes, the software ...

In 'Minority Report' Tom Cruise's character, John Anderton, has a radical surgery to replace his eyes so that he can get past security systems that scan his retina to identify him. As he's lying in a tub recovering from his black-market procedure, tiny robots sneak into the room and scan his eyes in an attempt to track down the fugitive Future Crime officer. The ability to scan retinas to ...

We've discussed eye implants that could eventually restore partial vision to people suffering from hereditary diseases like retinitis pigmentation, but for many others, a practical, medical solution for their near-to-total blindness remains painfully elusive. Stanford University researchers may be well on their way to solving that problem. One of the biggest obstacles that they've had to ...

Much of our Web perusal can be broken down into two distinct types: scanning and in-depth reading. Longer-form articles tend to be easier to read on a single, scrollable page, so the print/one-page option (if available) and some ninja-fast text-resizing can sometimes improve a piece's readability. Unfortunately, many sites no longer offer print-ready versions of articles. Readability, a tool ...

Putting in eye drops is a pain. Applying drops into your eyes is a hard enough challenge, made even more frustrating by the fact that one mistimed blink will find you with drops streaming down your cheeks. Annoyances like this have led to bigger problems, like 59-percent of glaucoma patients not using their medicated eye drops despite the risk of going blind, Wired reports. To remedy this, ...

Despite all the negative things people say about video games, we've recently learned that playing them can help to improve your eyesight. If that doesn't convince you that video games can have positive effects, then take a look at this: According to Reuters, scientists are successfully using a type of primitive video game to rehabilitate stroke victims' debilitated vision. Amazingly, the method ...

If Vision Express was looking for some attention, it just got it. A recent study by the optician chain found that 60-percent of Britons had avoided an eye test over the past year, with that number rising to 79-percent in Scotland. Phillip Hyde, dispensing optician and head of professional services at the firm, was quoted as saying that "even a marginally short-sighted person sitting on a sofa ...

There comes a time in every disposable contact lens' life when it must move along to the big eyeball in the sky; when it's so slime-encrusted and foggy that the only thing it should be seeing is the inside of a trash-bin. If you have a hard time remembering just when it's time to break open a fresh pair, Countact is for you. It's a simple enough product, a contact dish that has a digital timer ...

Far from the first circuit-laden contact lens we've laid eyes on (ahem), researchers at UC Davis have more than bragging rights in mind with their "smart" contacts. The devices are infused with a "pattern of conductive silver wires, which could be used to measure pressure inside the eye." The material, dubbed polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), would boast antimicrobial properties and could enable ...

Further hope that victims of paralysis or amputation could one day reclaim some form of motion came this week in the form of a robotically-enhanced, tobacco-chewing moth. The Society for Neuroscience's yearly gathering in San Diego saw a presentation on research in which a tobacco hornworm moth's brain was connected to electrodes and amplifiers at the base of a fairly common kit of robotic ...