ApplySci – Deep Tech Health + Neurotech

Category: Eyes

  • Brain processes images viewed for 13 milliseconds

    http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2014/in-the-blink-of-an-eye-0116.html MIT professor Mary Potter has published a study showing that the human brain is capable of processing images viewed through the eyes for 13 milliseconds. This is significantly faster than the 100 milliseconds reported in earlier research. The study offers evidence that “feedforward processing” — the flow of information in only one direction, from retina through…

  • Smart contact lens with potential to monitor intraocular pressure

    http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/140107/ncomms3982/full/ncomms3982.html Swiss Federal Institute of Technology scientists have developed a light, flexible, ultra-thin membrane with the potential to detect intraocular pressure in glaucoma.  Researchers claim that the technology “could offer significant advantages over existing solutions in terms of thickness, lightness, and transparency and, hence, comfort for the patient.” The device consists of layered polymer films, one…

  • Inkjet printed eye cells

    http://iopscience.iop.org/1758-5090/6/1/015001/article Cambridge professors Keith Martin and Barbara Lorber have used inkjet printing technology to print cells taken from the eye. This could lead to the production of artificial tissue grafts made from the variety of cells found in the human retina and may aid in the search to cure blindness. The researchers used a piezoelectric inkjet printer device…

  • NIH funds robots for the vision impaired, stroke patients, doctors performing catheter ablation

    http://www.nih.gov/news/health/oct2013/nibib-23.htm Three projects have been awarded funding by the National Institutes of Health.  All involve robots that cooperate with people and adapt to changing environments to improve human capabilities and enhance medical procedures. A co-robotic navigation device for the blind: Cang Ye at University of Arkansas is incorporating 3D imaging sensor technology into the white cane. This…

  • Smartphones and tablets assist the visually impaired

    http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/29/disruptions-guided-by-touch-screens-blind-turn-to-smartphones-for-sight/?partner=socialflow&smid=tw-nytimesbusiness&_r=0 The New York Times Bits blog reports that “advocates for the blind say that smartphones and tablets could be the biggest assistive aid to come along since Braille was invented in the 1820s.”  Writer Nick Bilton explores some of the many ways–from voice commands to gesture readers–that mobile devices are helping the visually impaired.

  • Transparent artificial muscle plays music, demonstrating capabilities of ionic conductors

    http://www.sciencemag.org/content/341/6149/984.full Harvard researchers have demonstrated that electrical charges carried by ions, rather than electrons, can be put to meaningful use in fast-moving, high-voltage devices. These ionic conductors can be stretched to many times their normal area without an increase in resistivity—a problem common in stretchable electronic devices. They can be transparent, making them well suited…

  • Contact lens continuously monitors intra-ocular pressure

    http://www.sensimed.ch/en/products/sensimed-triggerfishr.html The Sensimed Triggerfish combines a non-invasive wireless soft contact lens sensor with an automated system for recording IOP related patterns for up to 24 hours. The ambulatory patient wears the device during normal activity, including sleeping.  At the end of the session, the data is transferred from the recorder to an ophthalmologist’s computer for analysis…

  • Tiny wearable computer uses audio feedback to assist the vision impaired

    http://www.orcam.com OrCam, led by Hebrew University Professor Amnon Shashua, one the most exciting computer vision entrepreneurs in Israel, has developed a device that uses audio feedback to relay visual information to visually impaired people.   The tiny wearable computer works with a 5-mega pixel camera attached to glasses.   A computer vision algorithm enables it…

  • Device uses sounds to build mental images

    http://www.frontiersin.org/Cognitive_Science/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00330/full University of Bath scientists have developed the vOICe sensory substitution device to help blind people use sounds to build a mental image of things around them. Blindfolded study participants captured an accurate mental image of an object in front of them when a wearable camera and the vOICe device converted its visual image into…

  • LCD display, embedded in contact lenses — Google Glass functionality with out headgear?

    http://www.ugent.be/en/news/bulletin/augmented-reality-contact-lens Professor Jelle De Smet of Ghent University has developed a spherical, curved LCD display which can be embedded in contact lenses and handle projected images using wireless technology.  This is the first step towards “fully pixelated contact lens displays” with the same detail as a television screen.  The technology could lead to a superimposed image projected…

  • Smartphone diagnostic and cloud platform make eye care accessible

    http://eyenetra.com/netra-g.html Vinod Khosla and others have invested in MIT Media Lab’s EyeNetra, a smartphone attachment that claims to diagnose nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism.  The device is positioned as a less bulky alternative to the Shack-Hartmann Wavefront sensor.  A $2 eyepiece is clipped onto a phone.  The user then clicks to align the displayed patterns.  The number of…

  • Eye tracking data helps diagnose autism, ADHD, Parkinson’s

    http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=eye-tracking-software-may-reveal-autism-and-other-brain-disorders USC’s Laurent Itti and researchers from Queen’s University in Ontario have created a data heavy, low cost method of identifying brain disorders through eye tracking.  Subjects watch a video for 15 minutes while their eye movements are recorded. An enormous amount of data is generated as the average person makes three to five saccadic…