New Surgery gives Superhuman Vision. Forever

could this be for real?



from Collective Evolution:

A new bionic eye lens currently in development would give humans 3x 20/20 vision, at any age.

The lens, named the Ocumetics Bionic Lens, was developed by Dr. Garth Webb, an optometrist in British Columbia who was looking for a way to optimize eyesight regardless of a person’s health or age.

With this remarkable lens, patients would have perfect vision, ending the need for driving glasses, progressive lenses, and contacts, all of which are set to become a dim memory as the eye-care industry is transformed, CBC reports.

Even better is the fact that people who get the lens surgically inserted will never get cataracts, because the lens replaces that of their natural eye, which inevitably decays over time.

Webb says that anyone over the age of 25 is the best candidate, because that is when the eye is fully developed.

“This is vision enhancement that the world has never seen before,” he says, “If you can just barely see the clock at 10 feet, when you get the Bionic Lens you can see the clock at 30 feet away.“

The lens, which would be custom-made, is folded like a taco in a saline-filled syringe and placed in the eye, where it unravels itself within 10 seconds.




Quick & Painless Surgery

Webb says that the surgery can be done within 8 minutes and immediately corrects a patient’s vision.

The project has been in the works for the last eight years, Webb told CBC, costing about $3 million in research and development fees, along with the acquisition of international patents and the securing of a biomedical manufacturing facility in Delta, B.C.

His mission is fueled by the “obsession” he’s had to free himself and others from corrective lenses since he was in Grade 2, when he was saddled with glasses.

“My heroes were cowboys, and cowboys just did not wear glasses,” Webb says.

Webb’s efforts were recently recognized after he presented the lens to 14 top ophthalmologists in San Diego during a gathering of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery.

Surgeons from all around the world were intrigued by his “clever” design, Webb says.

“I think this device is going to bring us closer to the holy grail of excellent vision at all ranges — distant, intermediate and near,” said Dr. Vincent DeLuise, an ophthalmologist who teaches at both Yale University and Weill Cornell Medical College in New York.

Trials & Tribulations
Pending clinical trials on animals and then blind human eyes, the Bionic Lens could be available in Canada and elsewhere in about two years, depending on regulatory processes in various countries, Webb says.

Webb is hopeful that his lens will do away with the need for laser eye surgery, a procedure that still isn’t as efficient as it could be.

“Perfect eyesight should be a human right,” he says.

The Human Eye As You've Never Seen It Before

from Tara McGinley at DangerousMinds:

I've seen some pretty spectacular close-up shots of the human eye before, but nothing compares to these digital images by photographer Suren Manvelyan, where the iris areas almost resemble alien landscapes. Totally cool.







Via Neatorama

If you're depressed, the world really looks gray

from MSNBC

Retina scans show problems seeing black-and-white contrast differences

The world really does look gray to depressed people, at least on a subconscious level, new research suggests.

Researchers at the University of Freiburg in Germany had previously shown that people with depression have difficulty detecting black-and-white contrast differences. But the scientists had used a somewhat subjective measure — psychophysical tests — and others in the field had suggested perhaps depressed individuals had a harder time holding their attention and that explained the results.

The new study, published in the journal Biological Psychiatry, relies on an objective measure of the retina, suggesting depressed people may see the world in a different way from the non-depressed.

"These data highlight the profound ways that depression alters one's experience of the world," said Dr. John Krystal, editor of the journal. "The poet William Cowper said that 'variety's the very spice of life,' yet when people are depressed, they are less able to perceive contrasts in the visual world. This loss would seem to make the world a less pleasurable place."

Vision test
The research team had 40 patients with major depression and 40 healthy individuals view a sequence of five black-and-white checkerboards of different contrasts. Each checkerboard flickered (with a black square turning white and white turning black) 12 times per second on a computer screen.

Meanwhile, the researchers used an objective measure called the pattern electroretinogram, which is similar to an electrocardiogram (ECG) of the retina of the eye. The retina ECG shows the response of neurons inside the retinal cells. "That's not conscious vision, it's much earlier than you conscioulsy perceive something, within milliseconds," said lead researcher Dr. Ludger Tebartz van Elst.

The depressed patients had dramatically lower retinal responses to the varying black-and-white contrasts than healthy individuals. The results held regardless of whether patients were taking antidepressants.

Since conscious vision wasn't measured, the researchers can't say for certain whether the patients would be aware of the visual "impairment" in the real world, though they suspect that would be the case.

How the depressed eye works
While the researchers aren't sure exactly why depressed people might sort of "see the world as gray," they have a strong hypothesis. Here's how they figure it works: Contrast vision relies on so-called amacrine cells within the retina, which horizontally connect the retina's neurons called ganglion cells with each other. These cells rely on dopamine, a substance known to be important for drive and attention – when lacking, two main symptoms of depression.

"We think the retina is some sort of outpost marker of the integrity of the dopaminergic system in the whole brain," van Elst said. So the dopamine is linked with both the vision and the depression.

The finding has plenty of practical implications, van Elst said, including acting as an indicator of whether anti-depression drugs are working. In addition, the test could provide an objective measure of depression, as clinical tests are not always reliable.

"It's really amazing that we are able to distinguish healthy controls from depressed patients. That means we have an objective marker for essentially the subjective state of being depressed," van Elst told LiveScience.

The study scientists noted that although these findings are strong, they still need to be replicated in further studies.

* 7 Thoughts That Are Bad for You
* Different Colors Describe Happiness vs. Depression
* Top 10 Mysteries of the Mind

from LiveScience.com. via MSNBC

thanks, Chris!

photo above from The Idealist

10 Most Incredible Eyes in the Animal Kingdom

While humans tend to only think about their own vision and eyesight, eyes work in all kinds of different ways, allowing some animals to see in ways that humans can only imagine. Here are a few things you should know about a few animals with highly specialized eyes.

10. Owls

Photo: johnmuk
Like many predators, owls have their eyes located together in the front of their face, which allows them excellent depth perception during their hunting expeditions --particularly in low-light situations. Interestingly though, these massive eyes are fixed in their sockets and can barely move. This is why the owl can turn its head so far.

9. Geckos

Photo: Rachaelwrites
Nocturnal geckos have to be able to block out the bright sun during the day while still retaining excellent night vision, which is why they have long zig-zagged pupils that can tightly constrict to let in only pinpoints of light. Interestingly, while humans cannot see colors in dim moonlight, these animals can discriminate between colors and their eyes are calculated to be almost 350 times stronger when it comes to seeing color.

8. Gharials

Photo: Dotmartin
Gharials are ancient creatures that are practically living fossils. Despite this, they have extremely well-evolved eyes that are located in such a way that they can keep almost their entire head underwater and leave their eyes out to look out for prey. Their eyes are also primed for night vision, as a thin, mirror-like structure at the back of their eye helps reflect light that was not already absorbed by the eye back into the eye a second time. When lights are shown on the creatures at night, their eyes will reflect the light so brightly that it looks like they are glowing.

7. Hippos

Photo: Mrbendy
Hippos can see under the water with excellent precision, but what is really fascinating about their eyes is the clear layer of membrane that protects them from debris found underwater. You can kind of see it in the picture.

6. Chameleons

Photo: Ben Frantz Dale
Chameleons have some of the most unique eyes in the entire animal kingdom. They do not have an upper and lower eyelid, but instead just have a cone with a small opening just big enough for their pupils. Each cone can be separately rotated and the chameleon can actually look at two separate things in completely different directions at the same time. This visual advantage makes them exceptionally adept at hunting flying insects as they quickly buzz by.

5. Butterflies

Photo: Ferran
Like most insects, butterflies have compound eyes, which are made of hundreds of microscopic, six-sided lenses that allow them to see in every direction simultaneously. While this type of vision prevents the bugs from seeing things in sharp focus, butterflies can see ultraviolet light, which is invisible to the human eye. This aspect of their vision helps to lead them to flowers filled with delicious nectar.

4. Goats

Photo: Leo Reynolds
The square pupils of goats attract a lot of attention, but they aren’t just there to look pretty. The width of the pupils allows the animals to see at a 330 degree angle, as opposed to humans who generally see at around a 185 degree angle.

3. Frogs

Photo: Rainforest Harley
Frogs are well-known for their big eyes, but few people know why their eyes bulge out. They can protrude their eyes to help them see above the surface while they are underwater. When they close their eyes, they pull them back, where they are covered by a top opaque eyelid and two eyelids made of of thin, translucent membrane.

2. Cuttlefish

Photo: Bullhuss
Some of the most evolved eyes in the entire animal kingdom belong to cuttlefish. Their strange, w-shaped pupils are unable to register color, but can see the polarization of light, which allows them to see contrasts, even in dim light. While humans reshape their eye lenses to see things in better focus, the cuttlefish reshapes its whole eye. Additionally, internal sensors in the eye allow the creatures to observe things in front of them and behind them at the same time.

1. Huskies

Photo: Wikimedia - Przykuta
Their cold, steely eyes are perfect for scoping out movement on the desolate steppes. Almond in shape, moderately spaced and set slightly obliquely, the eyes of a Siberian Husky are ice-blue, dark blue, amber, or brown. In some individual dogs, one eye may be brown and the other blue, or a compelling mixture of the two.

License: Attribution-Share Alike

from environmental graffiti