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May 1, 2007 — A new technique called Patterned Scanning Laser uses a computer instead of a human to apply laser pulses to burn away abnormal blood vessels. Instead of manually operating the laser, the pattern of one or two thousand laser pulses is automatically applied. Diabetes affects over 20 million Americans. It can cause many serious health problems, including blindness. Treatment for eye problems is possible, but can be extremely painful. Now, thanks to chemical physics, there is a new laser technology, called PASCAL, can treat patients in just five minutes, and virtually pain-free.

ScienceDaily (May 19, 2008) — An improved artificial cornea, which could restore the vision of more than 10 million people worldwide who are blind due to diseased corneas, finally is moving toward reality, scientists in California conclude in a new analysis of research on the topic. Curtis Frank, Christopher Ta, David Myung, and Jennifer Cochran point out that disease or injury to the cornea -- the clear tissue covering the front of the eye -- is the second leading cause of blindness worldwide. Although treated in developed countries with transplants from donors, cornea transplants are unavailable in many parts of...

Being able to see properly is an important part of health. Unfortunately not everyone can afford to buy themselves proper glasses. Just like used clothes or sneakers, you can donate your used glasses. LensCrafters, Pearle Vision, Sears, Target, Sunglass Hut, and BJ's Optical all donate used glasses to Give the Gift of Sight, a program that gives glasses to underprivileged people in North America and developing countries. All you have to do is drop your old glasses off at one of the locations and the program collects, cleans, repairs, and catalogs them into a computer system so they'll be properly...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - John McCain, looking through a crystal ball to 2013 and the end of a prospective first term, sees "spasmodic" but reduced violence in Iraq and Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden dead or captured and government spending curbed by his ready veto pen. The Republican presidential contender also envisions April's annual angst replaced by a simpler flat tax, illegal immigrants living humanely under a temporary worker program, and political partisanship stemmed by weekly news conferences and British-style question periods with joint meetings of Congress. In a speech being delivered Thursday, McCain concedes he cannot make the changes alone, but...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An ambitious vision to take people to the moon and Mars may fall apart before it even gets off the ground because of uncertain planning and inadequate funding, several experts said on Thursday. A congressional report said NASA's replacement for the space shuttle, the Constellation Program, is in jeopardy, and members of Congress as well as at least one former astronaut agreed at a hearing on the issue. The U.S. Government Accountability Office said the Constellation program, scheduled to begin by 2015, is troubled by engineering, funding and mechanical issues. For instance, the program was meant to...

Former Cork club hurler Jimmy Aherne wept when he was told he would be blind within three years. The father-of-four -- who is a second cousin to hurling legend Christy Ring -- was diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The condition is cruel, as it has traditionally been untreatable. For decades, thousands of pensioners who lost their sight were simply told they had "old people's blindness" and that nothing could be done for them. But today, almost 12 months after that shocking diagnosis, the deterioration in Jimmy's eyesight has been halted and his good eye has improved to the point...

The superhero power to see through walls will soon be within the grasp of ordinary mortals, thanks to a new hand-held X-ray scanner. Inventors hope the gadget could revolutionise police work and Customs searches by allowing officers to seek out contraband, weapons, bombs or hidden people. The LEXID device sends out low-level X-rays which are collected in a lens based on the design of a lobster's eye. Rick Shie, senior vice-president of its American inventors, Physical Optics Corporation, said that lobsters' eyes, which are able to see in deep, murky water, use thousands of tiny squares to focus by reflection...

You are reading these words right now because 600 million years ago, an aquatic animal called a Hydra developed light-receptive genes—the origin of animal vision. It wasn't exactly 20-20 vision back then though. Hydras, a genus of freshwater animals that are kin to corals and jellyfish, measure only a few millimeters in diameter and have been around for hundreds of millions of years. Scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara studied the genes associated with vision (called opsins) in these tiny creatures and found opsin proteins all over their bodies.

When a 37-year old man walked into a hospital emergency room in Glasgow, Scotland last October complaining of "wavy" vision and a non-stop headache that had lasted four weeks, doctors were at first stumped, the British journal The Lancet reported today. The unnamed patient "had no history of head injury or loss of consciousness; his past medical record was unremarkable, and he was taking no medications . . . ." Body temperature and blood pressure were both normal, and a neurological exam scanned negative. But when an eye specialist was called in, the fog began to clear, at least for...

Nearly 50 years ago, a young Greg Smith celebrated July Fourth fishing, learning to water-ski and getting sunburned on a favorite beach at the Salton Sea. Today, Smith is an Imperial County businessman working to help resuscitate the dying desert sea that few dare to enter and on bad days can drive visitors far from shore with its smell. “We've gone through the hand-wringing,” Smith said. “Now is the time to do something.” That something could cost $8.9 billion over the next 75 years. Legislation to launch a comprehensive revitalization plan – one of the most ambitious in the nation's...

POLITICAL ILLUSION: When the supportive architecture of a democratic society is misinterpreted and subsequently portrayed to be tyrannically suppressive. POLITICAL VISION: The empowerment of officers in society to protect and serve all citizens’ liberties without infringing on existing democratic architecture. ESSAY: Optical illusions are visually perceived Images that trick our senses into seeing what may or may not exist. For example, Rubin’s Vase is a popular, two dimensional illusion. Indeed, it’s a perfect specimen to illustrate the major premise of this essay. For the uninitiated, the curves of Rubin’s Vase double as a silhouette of two opposing human faces. If...

WASHINGTON, April 3, 2007 – Virtual reality made its way into the operating room last week when an Army doctor performed the military’s first three-dimensional minimally invasive surgery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center here. Armed with a state-of-the-art helmet, Col. (Dr.) Ernest Lockrow, director of the Telerobotics and Minimally Invasive Surgery Center, used the 3-D capabilities to perform a hysterectomy. Minimally invasive surgery, also known as laparoscopy, uses tiny incisions to operate and typically involves a telescopic lens that is connected to a video camera. The operation last week was the first time the military has used the...

In the script Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recited this week during his trip to Washington, D.C., California is a nirvana where political parties have put aside their differences for the good of the people. "We reformed prescription drug costs, passed the world's most comprehensive plan to reduce greenhouse gases and began rebuilding the state's infrastructure," the Republican governor told a rapt audience of jaded political reporters at the National Press Club while he was in town for the National Governors Association Conference. "We did this working together." By following California's "post-partisan" model, Schwarzenegger said, President Bush and Congress could stop bickering...

A bionic eye implant that could help restore the sight of millions of blind people could be available to patients within two years. US researchers have been given the go-ahead to implant the prototype device in 50 to 75 patients. The Argus II system uses a spectacle-mounted camera to feed visual information to electrodes in the eye. Patients who tested less-advanced versions of the retinal implant were able to see light, shapes and movement. "What we are trying to do is take real-time images from a camera and convert them into tiny electrical pulses that would jump-start the otherwise...

I'll be the first conservative to admit it's a depressing time to be one. November hurt. To add insult to injury, San Fran Nan's coronation this month made me a bit woozy. Even so, listening to the liberal Iraq non-strategies, I'd be more depressed if I were a Democrat. As President Bush necessarily stuck by an unpopular war in Iraq, Democrats were quick to condemn him. The afternoon before his prime-time Jan. 10 address to the nation announcing a troop surge, an ultimatum to Iraq, and a warning to Iran and Syria, Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy brought up that "v"...

Is it a miracle that a legally blind man now has perfect vision? CNN's Jason Carroll reports. (December 21) VIDEO LINK

“After every Diwali, a large number people are blinded while bursting fire crackers. There are others who suffer from blindness due to chemical burns. But there is a ray of hope for such patients,” said Dr Radhika Tandon, Additional Professor, Ophthalmology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at the national symposium on stem cells being held at Panjab University. “Standard corneal transplant does not work in cases where blindness is due to chemical burning. But stem cell transplant can prove to be effective,” she said, adding that stem cell transplants do not ensure a perfect vision, but the patient...

Scientists say they've restored the vision of blind mice by introducing light-sensitive cells into the rodents' retinas.       These "photoreceptor precursor cells" are not undifferentiated stem cells but come from a later stage of cell development when stem cells have already "committed" to being a particular cell type -- in this case the rod-and-cone photoreceptors the eye uses to sense light.The study invigorates the search for cell transplants that might someday restore the vision of millions of people who suffer from a loss of these photoreceptors.  "We think this is a major breakthrough because it shows what can be achieved," said...

Experiments involving real and simulated robots suggest that the relationship between physical movement and sensory input could be crucial to developing more intelligent machines. Tests involving two real and one simulated robot show that feedback between sensory input and body movement is crucial to navigating the surrounding world. Understanding this relationship better could help scientists build more life-like machines, say the researchers involved. Scientists studying artificial intelligence have traditionally separated physical behaviour and sensory input. "But the brain's inputs are not independent," says Olaf Sporns, a neuroscientist at Indiana University, US. "For example, motor behaviour has a role to play...

A silicon chip that faithfully mimics the neural circuitry of a real retina could lead to better bionic eyes for those with vision loss, researchers claim. About 700,000 people in the developed world are diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration each year, and 1.5 million people worldwide suffer from a disease called retinitis pigmentosa. In both of these diseases, retinal cells, which convert light into nerve impulses at the back of the eye, gradually die. Most artificial retinas connect an external camera to an implant behind the eye via a computer (see 'Bionic' eye may help reverse blindness). The new silicon...