contactlenses
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Alphabet's autofocusing contact lens won't be tested in 2016
Bad news if you were hoping that Google's (now Alphabet's) smart contact lenses would be available relatively soon: they're running into some hurdles. Novartis, which is partnering with Alphabet's Verily Life Sciences on an autofocusing lens that addresses farsightedness, says it won't make its goal of testing the technology in 2016. It's "too early to say" when trials would start, a spokeswoman explains to Reuters. It's also uncertain when tests for the other lens, which monitors blood sugar levels, would likely begin.
Scientists build soft, transparent contact lens displays with nanomaterials
Of the contact lens display prototypes that we've seen so far, few if any are focused on comfort -- a slight problem when they're meant to sit on our eyeballs. A collaboration between Samsung and multiple universities may solve this with display tech that's meant to be cozy from the start. By putting silver nanowires between graphene layers, researchers have created transparent conductors that can drive LEDs while remaining flexible enough to sit on a contact lens. Current test lenses only have one pixel, but they're so soft that rabbits can wear them for five hours without strain. Scientists also see the seemingly inevitable, Glass-like wearable display as just one development path -- they're working on biosensors and active vision correction. While there's still a long way to go before we reach a cyberpunk future of near-invisible displays, we may finally have some of the groundwork in place.
Scientists testing HUD contact lenses on rabbits, hope to bring augmented reality to your eyeballs
Scientists at Washington University are a step closer to bringing us all some sweet information displaying contact lenses. The team has been successfully testing prototype lenses on rabbits -- though there are some major caveats here. First, due to limits of circuitry, they can only display a single light-emitting diode at a time. Also, the scientists have yet to figure out a workable energy source -- at present, they need to be within centimeters of a wireless battery. The researchers have big plans, however, including the display of holographic images -- and, no doubt, information about which targets to destroy.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: high speed rail, augmented reality, and body broadband
The Week in Green is a new item from our friends at Inhabitat, recapping the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us. It was a monumental week for efficient transportation as China unveiled plans to connect its high speed rail network all the way to Europe. We were also excited to see Solar Roadways unveil the first prototype of an energy-generating road that stands to transform our freeways into power conduits. Meanwhile, one 74 year old man is going solo and blazing his own trail across the states aboard a solar powered stroller. Inhabitat also showcased several amazing feats of architecture this week. One of the world's first skyscrapers with built-in wind turbines is rising above London, while designer Enrico Dini has created a gigantic 3D printer that is able to create entire buildings out of stone. Finally, we explored all sorts of ways that people are getting wired - literally. Students at the University of Washington are working on a set of solar-powered augmented reality contact lenses that may just bring terminator vision to the masses, while Spanish scientists are working on nanochips that can be that can be implanted into human body cells to detect diseases earlier. And in case you haven't heard, "me-fi" is the new WiFi as researches have discovered a way to transmit 10mbps broadband data through a human arm.
Researchers receive grant to develop color-changing contacts for diabetics
Contact lenses that act as a glucose monitoring system for diabetics aren't exactly a new idea, but it looks like a group of researchers from the University of Western Ontario might be a bit closer to making them a reality, as they've now received a $200,000+ grant from the Canada Foundation for Innovation to further develop the technology. The secret to their contacts are some "extremely small" nanoparticles that are embedded in the hydrogel lenses which, like some similar systems (such as those pictured at right), react to the glucose molecules in tears and cause a chemical reaction that changes the color of the lenses -- thereby informing the wearer when their blood sugar is too low or too high. What's more, the reseachers say the same basic idea could also have a wide range of other applications beyond glucose monitoring -- for instance, being used in food packaging to indicate if the food is spoiled or contaminated. [Thanks, Yuka]
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]
Pentagon project to put game-like display on contact lenses
Using contact lenses to simply change your eye color is so passé. Using contact lenses to augment reality is where it's at. At least it is for the Pentagon, which has put out a request for information on a system to display data "not unlike information provided to players of first-person, shooter-type video games" directly on the surface of the human eye. Sounds kind of like those TV display glasses you hear about sometimes, except, y'know, actually cool.The technology is a little out there, but it's not a total pipe dream. Researchers at the University of Washington are already working on a nano-scale prototype, and the Pentagon wants actual results out the project in three to five years. The means the technology could trickle down into the consumer market in about ten to fifteen years, just in time to be integrated into the Sony PlayStation 5 and the MicroTendo HyperBox 1080. We can't wait![Via Wired]
Researchers put circuits on contact lenses, freak out rabbits
We've seen plenty of newfangled contact lenses in the past, but it looks like a team of researchers at the University of Washington may have outdone them all, with their latest creation promising not only heads-up displays, but "superhuman vision." That's apparently possible thanks to a combination of lights and circuits, which they've managed to cram onto lens no larger than your average contact -- though it doesn't even do so much as light up in its current state (that's promises "soon"). Naturally, the researchers have tested the lenses on rabbits instead of themselves, which they say have shown "no adverse effects" after wearing the lenses for upwards of 20 minutes, although we'll just have to wait and see if they feel the same way after the researchers flip the switch on 'em. [Via Futurismic]
Researchers develop blood sugar-monitoring contacts
They're not the only ones working on contact lenses that measure blood sugar levels, but researchers at the University of Maryland's Biotechnology Institute led by Dr. Chris Geddes seem to have taken the technology further than most. They've reportedly developed special molecules that can detect glucose at very low levels which, when incorporated into a pair of contact lenses, should be adequate for detecting the amount of glucose in the wearer's tears -- which is about one tenth the amount in blood. What's more, unlike previous versions of the technology -- which required an additional device to read the results -- Geddes' new lenses will be able to simply display the results as a dot in the wearer's field of vision, changing colors to indicate low or high blood sugar levels. A lot more pleasant than the pin prick most diabetics now use to monitor their blood sugar to be sure, although as you can no doubt guess, more testing is needed before the lenses can be released into the wild.[Via Digg]