Newts and Zebrafishes—Oh My!
A little over 100 years ago, scientist were studying fruit flies to learn more about genetics. Since they were easy to capture and breed, scientists were able to study multiple generations in a short period of time. The information that they found lead to the mapping of regions that correspond to the fly’s physical traits. […]
Peripheral Vision & Crowds
Peripheral vision and navigating through crowds, what do they have in common? For the most part nothing. Yet they are two examples of how information from the eye is coming into the brain and is being processed so that we can act accordingly. Two studies, one at the National Eye Institute (NEI) and the other […]
Detecting & Fixing Eye Diseases
In eye diseases like retinitis pigmentosa, age-related macular degeneration and Leber congenital amaurosis, things are going on in the cellular level that occur before anything is detected by way of a test or observation. It would be great if these changes could be detected sooner and if there was a way to stop the deterioration […]
Changes in Technology Lead to More Info about Vision Diseases
If you are of a certain age, you will remember that in the 1980s first mobile phone were car phones. In fact, they were something of a status symbol, since they weren’t cheap. So, executives and high-end real estate agents were the ones who most likely had a car phone. Well, thanks to advances in […]
Geographic Atrophy in AMD
Geographic atrophy (GA) is an advanced form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) that affects the retina. Those with GA can have good vision if the macula, the center part of the retina responsible for sharp, central vision, isn’t damaged. While there are ways to assess the how well different therapies are working, visual acuity tests […]
AMD Research News
Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is a vision condition that no one wants. As the name suggests, this affects persons over the age of 50. It comes about when the macula, the part of the retina that controls sharp, straight-ahead vision, becomes damaged over time. While it doesn’t lead to total blindness, losing central vision […]
Visual Development
It is well known in the medical and scientific fields that newborn babies can’t see very well. Initially, all they can make out are faces. Everything else is a blur. As their eyes grow and brains develop, their vision improves. How does that process take place? Do changes in the process lead to visual impairment? […]
Visual Processing Part Two
Since it was identified which cells do what for vision, the next question is what part of the brain is in charge of processing visual information? Vision is more complicated than it seems. For the longest time, it was thought that vision was a matter of an image that is cast on the retina and […]
Cataracts and the Zika Virus Affect Vision Development
When babies are born, they can see an object with their peripheral vision but their central vision is still developing. Over the first few weeks, as a baby’s retina develops, his or her pupils widen and the baby can see light and dark ranges and patterns. At one month, a baby may briefly focus on […]
Research
Thanks to biomedical research, our understanding of the human body is evolving and this has led to treatments that improve health outcomes. This includes vision research and as a result, more is being learned about what leads to amblyopia and a possible treatment for age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Amblyopia Amblyopia, also known as lazy eye, […]