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Smart Contact Lenses
Iddo Genuth writes "Scientists at the University of California, Davis, have recently designed a contact lens prototype with a built-in pressure sensor using a novel process that etches tiny electrical circuits within a soft polymer material. The new development could help glaucoma patients to measure their current risk factor, thus replacing the current methods which require constant visits to a clinician."
Who wants to bet on what the first non-medical use of that technology will be?
Ignore this signature. By order.
In other news, medical marijuana proponents suffer from mass depression. All's not lost. They're pinning the rest of their hopes on using it for treating the side effects of chemotherapy. Lit up again from hope.
Frat boys reprogramming it so that they trick their buddy into doing a guy? Or a sheep?
Soon this guy will be able to get rid of that Delco air filter on his face.
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
Sweet! Hey, don't Bogart!
Electrical circuits in my eye...who wants the first to test this one out?
is contact lenses with built in nanoscale light sources that can project microtext and images directly onto my retinae.
He feels no pain, he can't be reasoned with, and he sees what you did there! Now get off his lawn!
"Quote me as saying I was mis-quoted." -Groucho Marx
... for the model that will allow me to see these.
Have gnu, will travel.
My only question is how you people can stand putting an object into your eye. I can't even stand eye drops, and given the amount of pot I smoke, that's a lot of discomfort I'm willing to put up with before sticking something in my eye.
Thankfully, glasses are a good option. Which really makes me wonder, why anyone uses contact lenses when glasses work very well and don't require you to stick things in your eyes.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Glaucoma? Medical applications? Pshaw. I'd rather hear more about the cosmetic uses of custom contact lenses.
but security researchers are worried that patients' eyes could be hacked to create "X-Ray vision".
you will become one with the Borg
But smoking weed is so much more fun.
But will it help you see women's underwear?
Why exactly couldn't they do this with some conducting polymer? Is it because of feature size? I have no idea how pressure is sensed, so I had to ask.
Res publica non dominetur
fragfest at better than IMAX screen size.
I want freakin laser beam contact lenses with which to shoot sharks!
What kind of lame ass people are they allowing to be moderators these days? Jesus.
You son of a... you hacked my eyes! Where are you!?
Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
C0ntacts are greatly superi0r t0 glasses in a c0uple imp0rtant ways.
First, they give y0u a much better field 0f c0rrected visi0n. Alm0st any pair 0f glasses will have large gaps ar0und the edges, and the styles p0pular t0day are particularly bad as they tend t0 be small. Any pair 0f glasses that c0vers the entire range that y0ur eyeball can p0int will l00k extremely ridicul0us. Practically, this means that y0u must m0ve y0ur head a l0t m0re t0 see things clearly when y0u're wearing glasses. As a pil0t, the increased field 0f c0rrected visi0n achieved by c0ntact lenses is by itself sufficient advantage t0 justify using them.
Sec0nd, dist0rti0n. Glasses dist0rt everything within the area that they c0rrect. H0w much they dist0rt depends exactly 0n h0w big they are and h0w str0ng they are. If y0u have str0ng, large glasses then there is significant dist0rti0n ar0und the 0utside edges which can be distracting. If y0u instead use smaller glasses, then this is better but the field 0f view pr0blem I discussed ab0ve is w0rse. If y0ur glasses 0ffer 0nly mild c0rrecti0n then this isn't s0 imp0rtant.
The "sticking s0mething in y0ur eye" thing is vastly 0verstated. It's just n0t a very big deal. M0dern c0ntact lenses are s0ft and c0nf0rm t0 y0ur eye's shape. They are designed t0 be wet and t0 retain water like the rest 0f y0ur eye. When they are in it is difficult t0 feel that they are there, alth0ugh if y0u are nearsighted then y0u can 0ften feel the rim 0f the lenses as y0ur eyes m0ve. This feeling is n0t unc0mf0rtable 0nce y0u get used t0 it, which just takes a few minutes the first time y0u use them, and decreases t0 zer0 as y0u c0ntinue t0 wear them. Getting them in and 0ut is als0 n0t a big deal 0nce y0u practice it a bit. My first week started 0ut with each m0rning and night being an adventure in getting the lenses in and 0ut, and by the end 0f the week it was pretty easy. N0w it takes me just a few sec0nds per eye and there is n0 disc0mf0rt. D0ne pr0perly, y0ur fingers 0nly ever t0uch the lens, n0t y0ur eye. S0 the eye 0nly t0uches the lens, which is wet and made fr0m a material that d0esn't irritate the eye.
I regularly wear b0th, and I can tell y0u that the pr0blems with glasses are just as big as the pr0blems with c0ntact lenses, it's just that y0u're used t0 the glasses and c0ntact lenses are f0reign t0 y0u. S0metimes if I wear my c0ntacts f0r a c0uple 0f days straight, switching t0 glasses makes me dizzy f0r a few minutes due t0 the dist0rti0n. Y0u g0t used t0 that dist0rti0n, and y0u'll get used t0 c0ntacts if y0u care t0 try them. Pers0nally I rec0mmend it.
--Shield
(S0rry...my 0 butt0n is br0ken!)
So, currently the clinicians must be working in pairs? Because otherwise, one of them going to the bathroom will make the visit not constant?.. Or do the unfortunate patients have to modify their facilities to have two bowls?
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
Guy: Dude, you seem to be blinking an awful lot, are you okay?
Other Guy: Yea, its this damn "check eyeball" light in my contact lens - it keeps blinking on and off. Maybe I should go have it checked out.
Guy: Naw, you probably didn't have the cap screwed on tight enough when you took it out last night.
I thought smart contact lense would be one that yells "Over here!" when you drop it.
Not all forms of glaucoma have increased eye pressure as a symptom.
Scientists discover, engineers create. If we want to promote engineering as an occupation, maybe people could actually acknowledge this distinction now and then.
Not a breakthrough at all, there is a company who's been working on this for several years and has a solution ready to go to the market: http://www.sensimed.ch/cls.html