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MIT researchers tout progress with retinal implant - yes, it comes with a visor
As impressive as that tooth-eye implant was, we're guessing most folks had something more like this in mind when they considered the future of sight restoration. While it's still a bit early in development, and has yet to actually be implanted in anyone, this new retinal implant certainly seems to have the researchers at MIT excited, who say that tests with blind patients could begin within the next three years. The basic idea behind it was apparently inspired by the cochlear implants that have proven successful in restoring people's hearing, although in this case the implant works by electrically stimulating damaged nerve cells that would ordinarily send visual signals from the retina to the brain. According to the researchers, however, the system would only work on folks that have lost their sight due due retinitis pigmentosa or age-related macular degeneration, and it wouldn't restore complete sight, but could let them see enough to find their way through a room or walk down a sidewalk (which is certainly no small feat). They'll also have to wear a special set of glasses (or visor, if you prefer), which will not only wirelessly send images to the implant, but keep it powered wirelessly through a set of coils.[Via The Register]
Video: doctors implant tooth into eye, restore sight, creep everyone out
Osteo-odonto-keratoprosthesis. It's a real procedure that really does revive people's ability to see, yet we get the feeling that people will be more, um, excited about how it's done than why it's done. The seemingly Mary Shelley-inspired doctors extract a tooth from a blind person and drill a hole through it, where a prosthetic lens is placed, and the resulting macabre construction is implanted into the blind person's eye. The tooth is necessary as the body would reject an artificial base. It's not at all pretty, and it cannot repair every type of blindness, but it's still a major step forward. To hear from Sharron Thornton, the first American to have undergone the procedure, check the video after the break, but only if you can handle mildly graphic content -- you've been warned. [Via Daily Tech]
Laser-equipped Virginia Tech dirt buggy can be driven by the blind
And you thought those self-driving whips in DARPA's Urban Challenge were hot stuff. As the mighty Hokies look to prove their dominance in the field of engineering, a student team from Virginia Tech has assembled what amounts to a vehicle that can actually be driven by blind individuals. In short, the specially equipped dirt buggy is outfitted with an array of laser range finders, an instant voice command interface and a few other related systems that enable drivers to respond to whatever the vehicle "sees." Best of all, the project is far beyond the drawing board, with a blind driver (Wes Majerus) already singing praises about the vehicle and deeming it a "liberating" experience. Regrettably, there's no information on what the team plans to do with the vehicle going forward, but we do know it hopes to pass along the same technology to more street-legal motorcars.[Thanks, Trisha]
Starting out in Vana'diel: See no evil, hear no evil, smell... no evil?
Hola mi amigos! Hoy es la dia de Vana'diel! *clears throat* Ahem, sorry about that. Hello adventurers, and welcome to another edition of Starting out in Vana'diel! Today's topic is actually one that I find quite cool about Final Fantasy XI, especially when you compare it to other MMOs. It's the mechanic that puts the fear of Promathia into every adventurer's step.Today's column is all about the different monster aggro types -- yes, there are different types. You want to find out more? Come, follow me, and let's find out more!
Glaucoma monitoring contact lenses crafted at UC Davis
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 scientists to better study glaucoma. How so? By sending pressure data to computers sans wires. Better still, the contacts also include the ability to automatically dispense medication into the eye, making this beneficial in more ways than one. The creators are expected to apply for approval to begin testing the lenses in humans here shortly, and barring any unforeseen (sorry, totally unintentional there) setbacks, we would hope these could be put to use within the next few years.[Via medGadget]
Former professor creates vibrating Braille handset
Braille phones in and of themselves aren't all that unique, but a former professor (who just so happens to be completely blind) from Tsukuba University of Technology has crafted a variant that jumps and jives. Dubbed the world's first vibrating Braille cellphone, the device is programmed to emit pulses depending on which key is pressed; more specifically, a pair of terminals attached to the handset "vibrate at a specific rate to create a message." Those currently involved with the project are now toiling to make the keypad-to-vibration converters smaller, but there's no word just yet on whether the technology will be picked up commercially. [Via FarEastGizmos]
Bio-electronic implant seeks to restore partial sight
We've seen initiatives all over the globe created in an attempt to beat blindness, but researchers based at MIT are feeling fairly confident that their development is within a few years of being able to "restore partial sight to people who have slowly gone blind because of degenerative diseases of the retina." The bio-electronic implant, which is about the size of a pencil eraser, would actually sit behind the retina at the back of the eyeball, and images would be transmitted to the brain "via a connector the width of a human hair." As it stands, an FDA grant application is already in the works, and the scientists are hoping to have it implanted in an animal as early as this summer. Still, the solution only works for folks who "were once able to see and have partially intact optic nerve cells" -- those who were blind from birth or suffer from glaucoma are unfortunately ineligible for the procedure.[Thanks, Rusty]
Draenei skin, or seeing Azeroth through all five senses
I love the question that juliamarcela over on Livejournal asks: What does Draenei skin feel like? Obviously Tauren are hairy cows, and almost all the other races are more or less Human (even if the color is a little different). But the Draenei are completely alien. Sure, they're probably not scaly or slimy, but it probably feels different than most skin we know. I like julia's suggestion, too: like shark skin.And I think I like that question so much because it brings Azeroth alive for our senses. What do mana potions really taste like? What does Shadowmoon Valley smell like? The prairie in Nagrand is probably a little firmer under your feet than the lands of Azeroth (considering it's just rock down there), but Swamp of Sorrows is probably a muddy mess to get through. And what does it feel like when you actually pass through the Dark Portal-- do you get to watch that scene from Stargate as you fly through the stars?I'm known to DM a D&D game on occasion, and I can tell you that there's no better way to bring a fictional setting to life than to imagine it through all of your five senses. From Draenei skin to what surely is a hot sulfur smell drifting through the Burning Steppes, I find it extremely interesting to think of what being in Azeroth would really be like.
Artificial corneas could save eyesight
While there's been no shortage of research surrounding the saving of one's eyesight, the EU-funded CORNEA project has now developed an artificial cornea that is showing promise in trials. Reportedly, scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP in Potsdam and the Department of Ophthalmology at the University Hospital of Regensburg have created a device that is "based on a commercially available polymer which absorbs no water and allows no cells to grow on it." Put simply, the cornea implant can "firmly connect with the natural part of the cornea, while the center remains free of cells and therefore clear." Apparently, early versions have already been successfully placed in the eyes of rabbits, and if ongoing testing goes smoothly, they'll be headed for humans as early as next year.
OtoTenji interactive display teaches you Braille
We've see a myriad of methods to communicate and even learn Braille, but we'll admit, most of the previous iterations lacked that sense of excitement necessary to motivate most folks to assimilate something new. Akinori Oishi's creation, however, seeks to be different, as the OtoTenji interactive machine allows users to press touch-sensitive pads and then hear back the letter / character in which they've signaled. We've no word on whether or not the machine is programmed to handle a one-on-one Braille spelling challenge, but if you're interested in just how this peculiar teaching tool actually goes about its business, be sure to click on through for a videotaped demonstration.[Via FreshCreation]
Software system to enable visual prosthesis learning
Years back, scientists at the University of Bonn reckoned a visual implant would cure blindness, but unfortunately, the results were less than positive. While many alternatives have surfaced in the meantime, gurus at the institution are hitting back yet again with another option of their own, as the researchers introduced a software system that enables visual prosthesis to "learn" how to interpret sights in a way that the brain can understand -- something the original implementation had difficultly accomplishing. Essentially, an artificial retina "must learn to generate signals that are useful for the brain," and while the group's software should assist users with "flexible" central visual systems to garner new abilities in sight, they warn against "expecting miracles" too soon.[Via MedGadget]
Researchers develop metamaterial with negative refractive index
We've got next-to-invisible objects and cameras with ridiculously large sensors, and thanks to a team of brilliant researchers over in Germany, now we've got "an exotic material with a negative refractive index for visible light." Gunnar Dolling and his colleagues at the University of Karlsruhe in Germany have created a metamaterial with layers of silver sandwiching a thin sliver of nonconducting magnesium fluoride on a glass sheet, and once an array of square holes were etched in, his tests showed that the "structure had a negative refractive index of -0.6 for light with a wavelength of 780-nanometers," besting the previous record of 1,400-nanometers. While the scientific babble may not mean much to you, the long and short of it is that this discovery could "lead to further breakthroughs in invisibility cloaks, which could hide objects from the human eye" and make escaping your troubles quite a bit easier. Moreover, the technology could be used in "superlenses" to see details "finer than the wavelength of visible light," but Dolling is reportedly more interested in studying the effects of his discovery than attempting to build any mystical devices, which is probably for the good of mankind, anyway.[Via Slashdot]
Colorblind gaming or: Table Tennis is impossibly hard!
Around one in ten males and one in two hundred females are unable to discern the difference between some or all colors that other people can distinguish. Like most other people with the disability, I've been colorblind (or, to use the politically correct term, have had color sight deficiency) since birth. I find it hard, and sometimes impossible, to tell the difference between shades of red, green and brown, blue and purple and oranges and yellows. As my optician told me when I was young, this disability means that I can't work in a paint factory or be a pilot. What he didn't tell me was that I'd have trouble playing friggin' computer games! As you probably know, the Xbox 360 features several colored buttons. Usually I can tell the difference between these buttons (the problem isn't so bad that I can't tell the difference between the equivalent of red and green at traffic lights). However, there's one game that has caused a problem: Rockstar's Table Tennis. A fundamental part of the gameplay is being able to respond to the opposing player's spin on the ball. This is represented by one of the colors which are also found on the gamepad. Blue for left spin, red for right spin, green for forward spin and yellow for back spin. Unfortunately, I can barely tell the difference between the red, green and yellow on a standard definition display. On a high definition screen the green and yellow are still nearly identical to my eyes. This isn't usually much of a problem during normal play (besides, I can always just press the green button), but on the training levels where you are taught how to spin the ball, I found the task physically impossible. I literally had to guess which spin the computer was giving the ball! Table Tennis has the hardest training level of any game, at least for me. Since completing the training levels is an Xbox 360 achievement, it's also possibly the hardest achievement there is. It took me around 3-4 hours and dozens of reattempts to get the 5 points given to you after you complete training.
MIT's $4,000 "seeing machine" for the legally blind
MIT's got a new machine in the works that will offer some discrete seeing abilities to the 1.3 million legally blind in the US without the need for invasive retinal implants. Though it's not portable and doesn't (yet) support video feeds, the 12 x 6 x 6-inch "seeing machine" developed by Elizabeth Goldring, a senior fellow at MIT's Center for Advanced Visual Studies, enables users to control virtual 3D environments, view images, or read documents by way of an LED eyepiece that projects images directly onto the retinas of those with limited vision. (An example of what Goldring apparently see is blown up onscreen above.) We assume the consumer application of such a device is only eventual, but for now it remains with at MIT for development, so, um, keep an eye out.
Are portables killing our eyes?
As if we weren't already worried enough about our cellphone causing Blackberry thumb, certain indecisiveness, and, of course, brain cancer, the WSJ is now reporting that according to some leading opticians, portables, especially with small screens and smaller fonts, could be causing irreversible eye strain and damage to our vision. Apparently the action of focusing for long periods of time on small spacial areas held relatively closely to the body -- especially displays with poor contrast ratios, and bad glare -- tends to overwork the eye's ciliary muscles, and might be causing deteriorated vision in the same young group of patients now visiting doctors for other technologically related ailments, like portable audio related hearing loss -- a group far too young to be coming in for their annual eyes, ears, and artificial hip-bone checkup.[Via TechDirt]
