Nothing like diving into a good book! But why do they make the print so SMALL???
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Presbyopia, or far-sightedness, is a common problem for (ahem) eyes of a certain age. Bring on the bifocals — and that silly head-bobbing dance to catch every word!! Can we do better?
Nitish Padmanaban from Stanford University SEES a solution… on TV! He used liquid crystals, like those found in LCD televisions, to make BETTER glasses! The crystals change shape when an electrical current is applied. Perfect for adjustable eyeglass lenses!
Padmanaban added an eye tracker and a distance sensor to the lenses. Software in the glasses calculate what the wearer is looking at. It then dynamically reshapes the lens to adjust!
About forty farsighted folks gave these newfangled specs a look-see. They worked as well as traditional lenses. But UNLIKE bifocals, the autofocals smoothly refocused as people moved their eyes! The downside? No more excuses for not finishing that Sudoku!
And mom said staring into the TV was BAD for your eyes!