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]

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.

Don't look now (for serious, we really mean it), but yet another health scare is taking those in England by storm, and this time whiteboard projectors are to blame for inducing panic in the hearts of mums and dads everywhere. The quarter-million academic projectors that have been installed all across the UK are now the focal point of an ongoing study, which suggests that a "viewer's peripheral retina could be overexposed even when they are not actually staring directly into the beam." Protesters are suggesting that the brightness be toned down to no more than 1,500 lumens, and a number of sensitive teachers and students alike have reported "dazzle effects" after looking at the board for an extended period of time. We could wonder if anyone actually expects the school systems to revert back to chalk in order to get things done, but more interestingly, who's up for swapping their PJ out for an RPTV (you know, before your retinas dissolve)?

[Via The Register]

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]