MetaFilter posts tagged with vision and science

Man recovers vision after 12 years by implanting tooth in eye

scrutiny — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 22:21:06 -0800

Recently, a man's sight was returned to him after losing it for 12 years. How did he do it? Surgeons drilled a hole through one of his canines, put a lens in it, and implanted the construct in his eye. The specific surgery is called Osteo-Odonto-Keratoprosthesis and was first pioneered in Italy in 1963. Essentially, a tooth and a small portion of the jaw is removed from the patient. A small hole is drilled into the tooth and a lens is attached inside. The tooth construct is implanted in the cheek to allow it develop a blood supply, and then later is implanted into the eye. Despite how unwieldy this procedure seems, it has a shockingly high success rate over time. In this survey of 181 patients, 85% retained functional use of their eye after 18 years, with approximately 55% retaining the best postoperative functionality.

A Museum of Living History

netbros — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 07:59:41 -0800

The Academy of Achievement brings students face-to-face with the extraordinary leaders, thinkers and pioneers who have shaped our world. Through profiles, biographies, and interviews Achievers in The Arts, Business, Public Service, Science, and Sports teach us how the Academy's core values of passion, vision, preparation, courage, perseverance, and integrity can, and will, lead to success. Includes a library of podcasts that are excerpts from symposium presentations from the Academy's international summits. Biographies from the Academy of Achievement have been linked on MetaFilter previously (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), but the full site has not been featured.

twilight zone, the edge of light

nickyskye — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 13:28:55 -0800

The "terminator" is the dividing line between day and night as seen from on high. This shadow line is diffuse and shows the gradual transition to darkness we experience as twilight. Color is a microconsciousness. The "twilight zone" The current terminator The terminator on the Earth and on the Moon

Strange New Fish May See Like Humans

chuckdarwin — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 03:35:24 -0800

A fish with forward facing eyes has been discovered in Indonesia. University of Washington fish expert Ted Pietsch thinks that the fish is probably a member of a previously undiscovered family of lure-less anglerfish.

See For Yourself - Optical Illusions

nthdegx — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 03:32:33 -0800

See For Yourself - Purves Lab's optical illusions web page with empirical explanations of familiar and unfamiliar illusions.

Not very well, apparently

JZig — Thu, 10 Feb 2005 15:57:36 -0800

How do we see? This site by Dr. Dale Purves makes it obvious we don't see things like a camera in any way. Check out the interactive demos, test your perceptual abilities, and read the research explaining why this happens. Number 12: Color Contrast Cube is particularly startling. Warning: Totally Flash interface, but appropriate for subject matter. More experiments at a less Flash-y associate's site.

Through the Looking Chords

Gyan — Thu, 20 Jan 2005 14:19:11 -0800

Dr Hugo's Museum of the Mind - Synaesthesia

Polarized light in nature & technology.

Gyan — Wed, 08 Dec 2004 00:25:34 -0800

Polarization.com - polarized light in nature & technology. [via MoFi]

taz — Fri, 27 Sep 2002 01:27:26 -0800

A professor of vision science at MIT understands that life isn't just black and white, even though we often see it that way. This amazing illusion proves it, and these slick, fast-loading, Flash demonstrations of lightness perception show how it's done. (My favorite is the "Koffka Ring".) White paper here, for deeper background.

djspicerack — Thu, 26 Sep 2002 06:59:07 -0800

Re-Shape Your Eyes While You Sleep? Wow - I don't know about you, but if I could wear contacts during my sleep that I *took out* when I woke up and didn't have to wear any all day, and I could see, then I'd do it in a second. When will it become reasonably priced?

daver — Wed, 28 Mar 2001 15:37:37 -0800

Cool eyeball science Quick summary of interesting research on the output of the eyeball. 3 really cool things: 1, we know much more about the output of the eyeball now than a few years ago; 2, they've got a neural network doing visual processing like the eye; 3, most of what you see your brain makes up!