Here are a few eye-health-related news items that caught my eye in recent weeks:
Photo by: jj99smith
Check-in, in the blink of an eye
Can you imagine checking into a hotel simply dialing into an automated line and then looking at your phone? That’s one potential outcome of the next-generation of iris-scanning technology, as described in a recent Forbes article. Amazing stuff.
Photo by: joshgard
Do migraine sufferers have more difficulty tuning out visual stimuli?
The first recourse for many people who suffer from migraine headaches is seek out solace in a dark, quiet room. New research indicates the way they process visual information may be what drives them there. In Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, researchers from Scotland’s Glasgow Caledonian University had migraine sufferers identify a small area of light on a screen with and without accompanying visual “noise.” The results indicated that when the visual noise was not present, people prone to migraines could distinguish the area of light as well as the control group; however, when the noise was added, the migraine sufferers performed significantly worse. A researcher associated with the study said that people who suffer from migraines might benefit by avoiding “scenes overloaded with visual distracters, for example computer screens and learning tools which have a lot of visual information on them.”
Photo by: wnyc
Dr. Sacks Looks at Vision
This is a fascinating interview with Oliver Sacks, the neurologist and author, who has long been intrigued by vision. His forthcoming book, The Mind’s Eye, was sparked, in part, by his own battle with ocular melanoma, which cost him much of the vision in his right eye and led to him experiencing what he calls “fairly simple geometrical hallucinations.” I expect it will be a great read, especially for those of us who share Dr. Sacks’ interest in how we process visual information.
