NEI Research News

Our eyes are especially demanding when it comes to energy: Along with our brain, they require a substantial amount of power to keep them functioning and healthy.

As we age, proteins in the lenses of our eyes start misbehaving: They unfold and congregate in clusters that block, scatter and distort light as it passes through the lens.

An international study of about 43,000 people has significantly expanded the number of genetic factors known to play a role in age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of vision loss among people age 50 and older.

Researchers at Florida Atlantic University are the first to show that cells in close proximity to each other can sense when a cell is dying due to environmental stressors like UV light and smoke, and eat the cell before it becomes toxic.

As part of the National Robotics Initiative (NRI), the National Institutes of Health announced that it will fund the development of three innovative co-robots—robots that work cooperatively with people.

A chemical that could potentially be used in eye drops to reverse cataracts, the leading cause of blindness, has been identified by a team of scientists.

Because sound travels much more slowly than light, we can often see distant events before we hear them. That is why we can count the seconds between a lightning flash and its thunder to estimate their distance.

Researchers have used fruit flies and mice to make novel discoveries about sensory physiology at both cellular and molecular levels that are important for light processing.

Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have developed a novel mouse model for the vision disorder Leber hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON), and found that they can use gene therapy to improve visual function in the mice.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins and the University of Washington report new research that sheds light on how the retina sets its own biological rhythm using a novel light-sensitive pigment, called neuropsin, found in nerve cells at the back of the eye.