Some people are born with poor eyesight, and some people eventually have their eyesight weaken at later stages in life. Regardless of when, most people will lose some clarity in their vision. There are a few options out there, ranging from corrective lenses to laser eye surgery. While the latter is gaining popularity, lenses continue to dominate the eyeballs of most people that needs to see a little better.
Researchers from the University of Utah have developed what could be the only pair of glasses one would ever need. Traditional glasses have a specific strength (i.e., those numbers that your optometrists throw at you every time you get a new pair), and every few years we have to replace these lenses with stronger ones.
The glasses developed by the Utah team is a bit different. Instead of using static glasses, the researchers are using glycerin (a clear liquid). By placing the glycerin inside a clear flexible membrane, the glasses can be mechanically manipulated (via Bluetooth and a smartphone app) to adjust to the desired corrective strength. The adjustments take around 14ms, which isn’t too bad since our brain probably won’t even notice the delay to begin with.
Consumer won’t likely be able to see this sort of eyewear technology for a few more years. Researchers are still working out the kinks, with one of them being the glasses are currently too thick (compared to traditional spectacles).
Source: smithsonianmag.com
