Your eyesight may be about to get a huge boost if a new bionic lens makes it to market. Invented by an optometrist in Canada, the Ocumetics Bionic Lens promises to enhance eyesight to a level that’s three times better than 20/20 – the universal standard for normal vision.
These aren’t lenses you pop in and out, though – the lens developed by Gareth Webb is inserted into the eye via a painless procedure that takes less than 10 minutes (Webb says the process is a lot like cataract surgery). The lenses don’t degrade over time so you’ll never have a problem with cataracts or failing vision no matter how long you live.
The Ocumetics Bionic Lens incorporates a patented miniature optics system that works like a tiny digital camera: powered by the body, it can shift focus from close range objects to objects any distance away faster than the human eye is able to.
Such technology isn’t invented in a day, of course – the lens has been eight years in the making and has cost US$3 million to develop so far. “This is vision enhancement that the world has never seen before,” Webb told CBC News. “If you can just barely see the clock at 10 feet, when you get the Bionic Lens you can see the clock at 30 feet (9 metres) away.”
Ocumetics Technology Corp, which owns the technology, says it’s safe and durable. The implanted lens feels natural and won’t cause headaches or any kind of eyestrain. Nevertheless, there’s a way to go before it hits the market: a launch has been tentatively set for 2017, after extensive clinical trials have been completed.
For Webb, it’s an innovation that’s close to his own heart: “At age 45 I had to struggle with reading glasses, which like most people, I found was a great insult,” he says. “To this day I curse my progressive glasses. I also wear contact lenses, which I also curse just about every day. My heroes were cowboys, and cowboys just did not wear glasses.”
If the Ocumetics Bionic Lens makes it to market then a whole host of eyesight problems could be overcome, not least having to wear glasses or contact lenses. Clinical trials are now set to begin on animals and blind human beings.
In addition to his main work on the bionic lenses, Webb has set up a charitable foundation called Celebration of Sight, dedicated to helping organisations that provide eye surgery in developing countries. Funds have also been earmarked for eye research institutes across the world.
Experts have called for tight control of organisms genetically modified to produce narcotics.
Brewing bad
If you brew beer at home, then you are relying on microscopic yeast that turns sugars into alcohol.
But by borrowing DNA from plants, scientists have been genetically engineering yeasts that can perform each of the steps needed to convert sugar into morphine.
One stage of the process – the production of an intermediary chemical called reticuline – had been a stumbling block.
That has been solved by a team at the University of California, Berkeley, and the scientists say it should now be possible to put all the steps together and “brew” morphine.
Dr John Dueber, a bioengineer at the university, said: “What you really want to do from a fermentation perspective is to be able to feed the yeast glucose, which is a cheap sugar source, and have the yeast do all the chemical steps required downstream to make your target therapeutic drug.
“With our study, all the steps have been described, and it’s now a matter of linking them together and scaling up the process.
“It’s not a trivial challenge, but it’s doable.”
High hopes
Until now morphine has been obtained from poppies
Morphine plays a vital role in pain relief in many hospitals, but it requires a poppy harvest to manufacture.
Brewed morphine could, eventually, be easier to produce. It could also allow scientists to tweak each of the steps to develop new types of painkiller.
The broad concept of using microscopic organisms to make drugs is not new in medicine.
Insulin for people with diabetes has been made in genetically modified bacteria for decades.
But there are concerns these latest advances could allow a DIY drug lord to brew illegal narcotics in their home.
‘Basic skills’
“In principle, anyone with access to the yeast strain and basic skills in fermentation would be able to grow morphine producing yeast using a a home-brew kit for beer-making,” reads a comment piece in Nature journal.
It calls for tight controls on such genetically modified yeasts.
Prof Paul Freemont, one of the directors of the Centre for Synthetic Biology and Innovation at Imperial College London, said: “Making opioids that can be used in an illegal sense makes this an important story.
“It’s technically demanding to make these strains, but in the future who is to know?
“That is why this is such an important time – how do we regulate these strains?”
A man has been able to control a robotic limb with a mind-reading chip implanted in his brain.
It allowed Erik Sorto, from California, to sip a drink unaided for the first time in 10 years.
The details, published in Science, reveal how complex bursts of electrical signals in his brain could be interpreted into commands for the arm.
Experts said the results made brain-controlled robotics closer to being a reality.
Mr Sorto was shot at the age of 21. The damage to his spinal cord left him paralysed from the neck down.
Mind control
Two tiny sensors were implanted into his brain to monitor the activity of around 100 neurons.
Previous attempts at thought-controlled robotics have focused on the motor cortex – the region responsible for the action of individual muscles.
However, the US team tried implanting the chips in the posterior parietal cortex – the part of the brain that comes up with the initial intention.
It is the difference between deciding to pick up a mug or telling your hand to move towards it.
The team hopes this approach will be more intuitive.
One of the researchers, Prof Richard Andersen from Caltech, told the BBC News website: “The first time he tried the robotic limb he could form his hand to mirror one of the student’s hands as if shaking hands – for him it was a huge thrill.”
He has improved with training so that he can lift a drink to his mouth and also control a cursor on a computer screen.
Mr Sorto said: “I joke around with the guys that I want to be able to drink my own beer, to be able to take a drink at my own pace, when I want to take a sip out of my beer and to not have to ask somebody to give it to me.
“I really miss that independence. I think that if it were safe enough, I would really enjoy grooming myself – shaving, brushing my own teeth. That would be fantastic.”
Progress
The field of harnessing a healthy brain to overcome a damaged body is advancing rapidly, particularly in the US.
Jan Scheuermann was able to deftly grasp and move a variety of objects just like a normal arm.
However, the developments are still largely restricted to the laboratory.
The procedure still requires an implant with wires coming out of the brain, which could be an infection risk.
Scientists also want to monitor even more brain cells to improve control.
A commentary, from researchers Dr Andrew Pruszynski and Dr Jorn Diedrichsen, argued: “The results represent one more step toward making brain control of a robotic limb or computing device a reality.
“Despite the impressive series of steps taken over the past 15 years, however, these neural prosthetic devices still have a substantial way to go before becoming practical therapeutic interventions.”
People with heart failure must be screened for signs of depression and offered counselling, scientists say.
A small study presented at the European Society of Cardiology suggested patients with depression were more likely to die within a year.
Though many factors are likely to influence this – including the severity of the disease – researchers say managing depression is important.
And charities advise people to seek help through specialist nurses and GPs.
Prof John Cleland, chief investigator in the study, who works at both Imperial College London and the University of Hull, describes heart failure as a “modern epidemic” that affects 900,000 people across the UK.
But despite trying to find better drugs and improved procedures there is no cure, Prof Cleland told the BBC: “Being heart specialists we have focused on trying to find medicines, devices, and operations.”
“They work but not as well as we would like. So we have decided to step back and look at the bigger picture,” he added.
Higher death risk?
Heart failure can happen when the the muscle of the heart becomes too weak or too stiff, making it harder to pump blood around the body.
And as this becomes worse patients can feel very tired and short of breath.
As part of a continuing investigation, Prof Cleland’s team asked 96 patients, who had been admitted to hospital with heart failure, a series of questions to assess whether they were depressed.
Those who showed signs of moderate or severe depression were more likely to have died in the 300 days that followed.
Though this link has been shown before, scientists generally thought this was down to people with depression suffering from a more severe form of the condition.
While the Hull scientists acknowledge this is likely to play a part, they say it is does not account for the full picture.
For example, while measuring NT-proBNP – a hormone that can be used to help monitor the severity of the disease – they found little difference between people who had severe depression and those who did not.
It is likely that other factors are important as well; some people with depression may not feel motivated to take their pills or seek help quickly, scientists suggest.
Researchers say these questions, and their early findings, need to be explored and evaluated in bigger studies.
Meanwhile Julie Ward at the British Heart Foundation, said: “We know depression is both a risk factor for heart disease and is often experienced by people who have had a major heart event.”
“Every person with a long-term physical health condition, like heart disease, should be treated for both their physical and psychological symptoms equally.
“Talk to your GP or heart specialist nurse and discuss the options that could be available to you,” she said.
A total of 2.5km of lights (1.6 miles) have been installed in the supermarket at Lille
French shoppers have become the first to experience a new LED lighting system that sends special offers and location data to their smartphones.
The technology was designed by Philips and has been installed at a Carrefour supermarket in Lille.
It transmits codes via light waves, which are undetectable to the eye but can be picked up by a phone camera.
The innovation offers an alternative to Bluetooth-based “beacons”, which are being installed by many retailers.
“We are always on the lookout for innovations to facilitate customers’ navigation,” explained Carrefour executive Celine Martin.
“Thanks to this new application, which uses Philips technology, we are now able to provide our customers at the EuraLille Carrefour with a new service, enabling them to quickly search and locate their preferred promotions or detect all the promotions around them.”
An app allows shoppers to see their location in the store
Philips is not the only organisation to have researched ways to transmit data via specialised LED bulbs.
Engineers at the University of Edinburgh are working on a “li-fi” system capable of transmitting data at up to 10 gigabits per second, which they suggest could offer an alternative to radio waves.
‘GPS of the aisles’
The Philips scheme is more limited in its scope, but has the benefit of being ready for market.
It works by making each of the fitted LEDs transmit a distinct location code.
Carrefour is using the location data to trigger aisle-specific special offers
If users open a compatible app and let their smartphone camera look upwards, this can be used to determine their location – accurate to up to 1m – and the direction they are facing.
It functions in a similar way to GPS-based maps used outdoors, and compares favourably to wi-fi based location systems, which are typically accurate to only 3-5m.
Many retailers, however, are investing instead in beacons – small Bluetooth 4 transmitters that allow compatible apps to work out how far away a user is standing, but not their precise position.
Beacons have the benefit of being cheaper and potentially easier to try out than replacing a store’s complete lighting system.
Many stores are installing Bluetooth transmitters called “beacons” as an alternative
However, one expert saw the merits of Philips’s alternative.
“You have to look at this as a long-term investment, but this is potentially an easier spend to swallow as you’re not just betting on one thing – you still have a good lighting system,” commented Chris Green, principal technology analyst at the Davies Murphy Group consultancy.
“It also goes far beyond what is achievable with the beacons.
“To try and get a similar effect you’d need so many of them that they would be awkward to deploy, plus you’d need to rely on users having a phone that not only supports the newer Bluetooth standard but also has it switched on.
“By contrast, this is up in the air, so easier to roll out.”
Google’s patent shows a toy rabbit and teddy bear but says that other child-friendly designs would be possible
Google’s R&D team has looked into making internet-connected toys that control smart home appliances.
The firm has published a patent that describes devices that would turn their heads towards users and listen to what they were saying, before sending commands to remote computer servers.
The three-year old patent was spotted recently by the legal technology firm SmartUp.
It described the proposal as “one of Google’s creepiest patents yet”.
Privacy campaigners have also raised concerns.
A spokeswoman for Google was unable to say whether this was a product the firm might develop and sell.
“We file patent applications on a variety of ideas that our employees come up with,” she said.
“Some of those ideas later mature into real products or services, some don’t. Prospective product announcements should not necessarily be inferred from our patent applications,” she added.
Curious face
The patent was originally filed back in February 2012, but has only just been published.
Google describes how the toys would communicate with its servers to control devices in the home
Its inventor is named as Richard Wayne DeVaul, whose job title is “director of rapid evaluation and mad science” at Google X – the firm’s secretive “skunkworks” lab.
The patent describes how the toys would include microphones, speakers, cameras and motors as well as a wireless connection to the internet.
It states that a trigger word would cause them to wake up and turn their gaze towards the person addressing them, and would be able to check if the person talking was making eye contact.
The document suggests the device could respond both by speaking back and by expressing “human-like” expressions of interest, curiosity, boredom and/or surprise.
“To express interest, an anthropomorphic device may open its eyes, lift its head and/or focus its gaze on the user,” Mr DeVaul wrote.
“To express curiosity, [it] may tilt its head, furrow its brow, and/or scratch its head with an arm.”
Bedroom commands
Drawings show that the machine could be made to look like a bunny rabbit or teddy bear, and the text suggests other alternatives that include dragons and alien life forms.
The patent adds that making the device look “cute” should encourage even the youngest members of a family to interact with it.
“Young children might find these forms to be attractive,” it says.
“However, individuals of all ages may find interacting with these anthropomorphic devices to be more natural than interacting with traditional types of user interfaces.”
The movie AI featured a “super” teddy bear that interacted with its owners
The document suggests the toys could be used to control a wide range of devices, from televisions and DVD players to home thermostats, motorised window curtains and lights.
It adds that they might prove so popular that families would wish to buy several, placing them around the house including inside their bedrooms.
The idea echoes the “super toy” teddy bear featured in Steven Spielberg’s 2001 movie AI.
But Mikhail Avady, from SmartUp, said he thought it belonged in “a horror film”, and the campaign group Big Brother Watch has also expressed dismay.
“The privacy concerns are clear when devices have the capacity to record conversations and log activity,” said its director Emma Carr.
“When those devices are aimed specifically at children, then for many this will step over the creepy line.
“Children should be able to play in private and shouldn’t have to fear this sort of passive invasion of their privacy. It is simply unnecessary,” she added.
The idea risks evoking memories of the evil toys in the video game Five Nights at Freddy’s
The Center for Democracy and Technology – a research group that helped shape child protection laws in the US – said that parents would have to be “especially vigilant” over the coming years, whether or not Google ever put such toys on sale.
“In general, as technology moves forward, markets will offer a steady stream of products that push or even break mainstream social norms – on privacy as well as other things,” said its director of European affairs, Jens-Henrik Jeppesen.
“Responsible companies will understand they need to provide full transparency about how such devices handle data.
“Some consumers may find such products appealing – I suspect most will not,” he added.
Hi-tech dolls
Google is not the first firm to see the appeal of a family-friendly voice-activated control for the home, as an alternative to using remote controls or smartphones.
Amazon already sells the Echo in the US – a cylindrical internet-linked device that can be used to control music playback, check the weather and order food.
But the fact that it does not look like a toy may have helped it become relatively uncontroversial.
By contrast, Mattel’s recent announcement of Hello Barbie – a doll that uses a wi-fi connection and voice recognition to chat with young girls and recall things they said in earlier conversations – has prompted a backlash.
Annegret Raunigk, then 55, posing with one of her daughters in 2005
A 65-year-old German woman has given birth to quadruplets after undergoing an artificial insemination procedure, Germany’s RTL television reports.
It says Annegret Raunigk had three boys and a girl by Caesarean section at a Berlin hospital on Tuesday.
They were born prematurely at 26 weeks but have a “good chance of surviving”.
Annegret Raunigk – who already has 13 children and seven grandchildren – is the world’s oldest woman to have quadruplets.
The single mother reportedly decided to try for another baby when her youngest daughter, who is now 10, said she wanted a little brother or sister.
Ms Raunigk’s pregnancy – the result of fertility treatment in Ukraine – has been the subject of fierce debate in Germany, the BBC’s Jenny Hill in Berlin says.
During her pregnancy she said she believed everyone should be able to live the life they wanted to.
Asked whether she had any concerns, Ms Raunigk said she assumed she would stay fit and healthy and that she was not worried about what other people thought.
Some doctors have questioned whether she would be physically capable of bearing the children.
However, the German school teacher is not the oldest woman to give birth to a child – that official record is held by Maria del Carmen Bousada Lara. She had twins in Spain in 2006, at the age of 66.
Some reports dispute this, saying the actual record holder is Omkari Panwar, who is believed to have been 70 when she gave birth to twins in India in 2008.
ARYAN'S BLOG 