Via The BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-39725588
TechCrunch features a smartphone app – iDentifi – designed to help people with visual impairments identify everyday objects using their smartphone.
Futurity highlights an online game that helps fight Alzheimer’s, developed by researchers at Cornell University. The game – Stall Catchers – asks users to search for clogged blood vessels in videos in exchange for points, with the goal of speeding up research that cannot be automated and is reliant on human input.
Researchers at the University of Exeter (UK) have found that adding green LED lights to fishing nets can significanty reduce that numbers of turtles that get trapped and die, without impact on the quantity of fish caught.
MIT Technology Review reports on the first trial of a procedure aiming to partially restore the sight of people with a degenerative eye condition – retinitis pigmentosa (where light-sensitive photoreceptor cells die, causing blindness).
The article explains that optogenetics is a “technology developed in neuroscience labs that uses a combination of gene therapy and light to precisely control nerve cells.” The trial aims to “engineer the DNA of different cells in the retina, called ganglion cells, so that they can respond to light instead, firing off signals to the brain.”
It is hoped that the approach could one day also be applied to conditions affecting the brain, including Parkinson’s.
Techcrunch highlights a 3d-printed eye examination smartphone app and attachment called Peek (Portable Eye Examination Kit).
The device and app can be used in the field in developing nations and isolated rural areas at lower costs than traditional equipment (or where testing equipment rarely reaches) to test a range of eye functions and conditions.
Engadget reports on a partial workaround for blindness developed by researchers at Wayne State University in Detroit
Engadget reports on software development by Warby Parker that will allow customers to carry out sight tests at home.
Engadget features a shirt-pocket camera that helps blind and visually impaired people to avoid obstacles and hazards by giving the wearer audio messages.
Futurity reports on a new device that allows medical professionals to conduct remote eye examinations using a cheap device to capture videos of the macula which are then split into still images sent to doctors via mobile phones. The solution has great potential to help people in developing countries to get eye problems diagnosed.
Engadget reports on a trial of bluetooth beacons to help blind and visually impaired commuters navigate stations and the underground.
FastCoExist highlights the work of a 15 year old CEO who leads the non-profit Vision for and from Children which has helped over 20,000 children with visual impairments across the globe.
Engadget features 3d printed music scores for blind people that allows them to feel each note. The approach offers a better alternative to Braille music scores, as these sometimes lack the full details of the piece.
Image: Scott Gordon
FastCoExist covers a set of eyeglasses that can be tuned by the wearer to their particular needs without the help (and costs) of an optician or other medical professional. Two lenses are separated by a chamber that is then injected with a silicon-based liquid that helps adjust the focus.
Source: Vox.com http://www.vox.com/xpress/2014/12/5/7337299/app-blind-eyemusic