Why the lights don’t dim when we blink

Berkeley: Every few seconds, our eyelids automatically shutter and our eyeballs roll back in their sockets. So why doesn’t blinking plunge us into intermittent darkness and light? New research led by UC Berkeley shows that the brain works extra hard to stabilize our vision despite our fluttering eyes. Scientists at UC Berkeley, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, Dartmouth College and Université Paris Descartes have found that blinking does more than lubricate dry eyes and protect them from irritants.

Study shows need for improved, stable eye screening of premature babies

Ann Arbor: Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) occurs when abnormal blood vessels grow over the retina and may lead to blindness in premature babies. Study highlights challenges of providing eye care close to home for premature babies. The eye disease is a concern as more babies are surviving due to advances in neonatal care. On the decline, though, are ophthalmologists available to offer sufficient care.

New Visual Symptoms Following LASIK Surgery

JAMA: In a study published online by JAMA Ophthalmology, Malvina Eydelman, M.D., of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, Md., and colleagues examined the frequency of patient-reported visual symptoms, dry eye symptoms, satisfaction with vision, and satisfaction with laser insitu keratomileusis (LASIK) surgery in the Patien

Bow ties and cuttlefish: researchers gain new insight into a human visual super sense

Bristol: An experiment originally designed to test the visual abilities of octopuses and cuttlefish has given University of Bristol researchers an unprecedented insight into the human ability to perceive polarized light – the super sense that most of us don’t even know we have. We are all familiar with colour and brightness, but there is a third property of light, the ‘polarization’, which tells us the orientation in which the light waves are oscillating.

Polarised light and the super sense you didn’t know you had

TheConversation: Ever fancied having a superpower? Something you can call upon when you need it, to hand you extra information about the world? OK, it’s not X-ray vision, but your eyes do have abilities that you might not be aware of. We are all familiar with colour and brightness, but there is a third property of light – the “polarisation” that tells us the orientation in which light waves are oscillating. Animals, like bees and ants, use the polarisation patterns in the sky as a navigation aid. But few people, even in the scientific community, are aware that humans can perceive the polarisation of light with the naked eye.

How neurons find their way from the retina to the inner brain

Johns Hopkins: Just as most cameras now have an autostabilization feature to compensate for movement during picture taking, our eyes execute an imperceptible reflex that prevents our vision from blurring when we, or our field of vision, are in motion. But before the reflex can work, the wirelike projections, or axons, of specialized nerve cells must find their way from the retina to the correct part of the brain during embryonic development. New research, published online May 7 in the journal Neuron, describes how those axons find their way through the brain’s maze of neurons to make the right connection. The finding has implications for treatment of eye movement disorders and regeneration of damaged vision-sensing nerve cells.