Here’s something that people with poor or no vision will be excited about: three patients had their sight restored in less than a month by contact lenses cultured with stem cells.
All three patients were blind in one eye. The researchers extracted stem cells from their working eyes, cultured them in contact lenses for 10 days, and gave them to the patients. Within 10 to 14 days of use, the stem cells began recolonizing and repairing the cornea.
Of the three patients, two were legally blind but can now read the big letters on an eye chart, while the third, who could previously read the top few rows of the chart, is now able to pass the vision test for a driver’s license. The research team isn’t getting over excited, still remaining unsure as to whether the correction will remain stable, but the fact that the three test patients have been enjoying restored sight for the last 18 months is definitely encouraging. The simplicity and low cost of the technique also means that it could be carried out in poorer countries.
This is incredible and potentially game changing. It’s stuff like this that makes you realize that we live in the future, and it’s awesome. [UNSW via The Australian via GizMag]
BY SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer
Updated: 6:02 am PDT June 2, 2009
WASHINGTON — Scientists looking for lost penguins stumbled upon an effective method: Follow their poop from space. In remote Antarctica, about one-and-a-half times bigger than the United States, researchers have been unable to figure out just where colonies of emperor penguins live and if their population is in peril. It’s harder still because emperor penguins, featured in the film “March of the Penguins,” breed on sea ice, which scientists say will shrink significantly in the future because of global warming. Because the large penguins stay on the same ice for months, their poop stains make them stand out from space. Scientists at the British Antarctic Survey found this out by accident when they were looking at satellite images of their bases. A reddish-brown streak on the colorless ice was right where they knew a colony was, said survey mapping scientist Peter Fretwell. The stain was penguin poo — particularly smelly stuff — and it gave researchers an idea to search for brown stains to find penguins. They found the same telltale trail, usually dark enough to spot from space, all over the continent, said Fretwell by telephone from England. Using satellite data, the scientists found 10 new colonies of penguins, six colonies that had moved from previously mapped positions to new spots and another six that seemed to have disappeared. Overall, 38 colonies were spotted from above, according to Fretwell’s paper, “Penguins From Space” in the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography. “It’s a very important result scientifically, even though it’s a lighthearted method,” Fretwell said Monday. Even though Antarctic sea ice hasn’t melted so far, scientists predict it to shrink by one-third by the end of the century, potentially threatening the birds, Fretwell said. The research is “incredibly useful,” because the only time to see emperors are during breeding in winter when weather makes it nearly impossible to get to the colonies, said longtime penguin researcher William Fraser, who wasn’t involved in the study. Fraser noted that salty penguin guano “over time will corrode your boots,” adding that he has lost nearly a dozen pairs to poop in 35 years of penguin research.
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Absolutely wonderful. I want this.
This is really cute and easy. I would think you’d have to use a high quality shirt that wouldn’t stretch, or use it for lightweight carrying.
