The offers began arriving by email in January: a chance at clearer vision for the special price of US$299 per eye. Over the next four months, I received 20 ads from the same company â each offering the same deal for the âsafe, FDA approvedâ surgery.
Do you see Albert Einstein or Marilyn Monroe? If you see Einstein, that means your vision is good! If you see Marilyn Monroe, your eyes need some help. In the GIF above, you should see both as it zooms in. When the image is further away and smaller, you'll see Marilyn. As it comes closer, you'll see Einstein. TheâŚ
Parents have been firing carrots into their kids' mouths for 70-plus years on the concept that "they give you better vision!" Truth is, while carrots are super-healthy, they won't do a thing to bring you back to 20/20. It's a myth, invented in WWII England to confuse the Nazis.
I spend too much of my waking life staring at screens. If you're reading this, you probably do, too. So instead of putting things on or in front of our imperfect eyeballs to correct and protect them, how about rethinking the screens we're staring at? Researchers at Berkeley, MIT, and Microsoft have developed aâŚ
A team of surgeons in Oxford have used a pioneering new form of gene therapy to stop six of their patients going blind--and it's hoped the technique could be used to treat blindness more generally.
Nearsightedness is a pain in the ass that affects over 40 percent of the US populationâand it only gets worse with age. Soon, though, children that are identified as myopic will be able to wear special contact lenses that will stop the condition in its tracks.
As cataracts is the main cause for blindness, a phone accessory that diagnoses cataracts could cut down on blindness, particularly in the developing world. As shown in the video here, MIT's CATRA is a low-cost solution which not only detects cataracts, but also tracks the severity of them over time.
Blind veterans in Scotland have a new place they can hang out and not hurt themselves.
Daniel Kish lost his eyesight when he was 13 months old. For most of his youth, he functioned fine without a walking stick. He mountain bikes. He camps alone. He moves through cities handily. All thanks to advanced echolocation abilities.
The life-changing artificial retina by Second Sight has today been given the go-ahead by European officials, making it the world's first to actually go on sale, to anyone who needs it. Well, anyone with $100,000 spare, that is.
Soon, you'll be able to control Android phones with a front facing camera through hand gestures. Brush left and right to move through photos, wave up and down to scroll through web pages, it's a non-touchscreen from the future.
28-year-old Neil Harbisson has achromatopsia, which means he only sees in black and white. You'll notice in his photo however, that he's wearing a camera mounted to his head. This converts colors into soundwavesâmaking him "hear" colors.
Researchers in Australia have developed a "wide-view neurosimulator," to help give sight back to the blind. By implanting electrodes in the eye, they'll allow those with degenerative vision loss to see a pixelated version of the world around us.
Need to see a thousand meters in the dark? Want one eye that's perfect for reading and another for long distances? Some eye surgeons are already at work reshaping corneas not only to fix patients' vision, but fit their careers.
Having the internet be constantly displayed no matter where we look is a dream we've had for years, but having to shove an electronic contact into our eyes makes us think twice. This prototype device, which has red LEDs and can be worn for up to 20 minutes (tested on rabbits) with no adverse effects. The contacts beamâŚ
If you're cursed with bifocals or fear they're in your future, you'll be glad to know optical scientists at the University of Arizona have been working on liquid-crystal eyeglass lenses that can switch focus on command.
