McNerney, Sam. "New Eyewear Could Help People with Red-Green Color Blindness: Scientific American." Scientificamerican.com. Scientific American, 5 Feb. 2013. Web. 05 Feb. 2013. <http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=new-eyewear-could-help-people-with-red-green-color-blindness>.
I read the article “New Eye-Wear Could Help People with Red-Green Colorblindness.” It was previously believed that it was necessary for humans to see color so that they could pick the ripest fruits and vegetables in the forests. However, evolutionary neurobiologist Mark Changizi proposed that color vision evolved to perceive oxygenation and hemoglobin variations in skin in order to detect social cues, emotions and the states of our friends or enemies. He founded the 2AI labs which last summer created glasses called O2Amps. The lenses enhance the wearer’s perception of oxygenated blood. These glasses are now being used in a variety of ways, including medical applications and possibly even in police forces. In addition, people who are red-green colorblind also tested the glasses. The glasses appeared to help. For example, Daniel Bor tested the glasses, and without the glasses he failed the colorblindness test. But while he was wearing the glasses he got all the answers correct. While the glasses enhance red and green they make it harder to see yellows and blues, sometimes the yellow is impossible to see. In addition to the glasses, the 2AI labs has also made a prototype lamp that reduces glare.
This article is very significant to everyone’s day to day life. These glasses can not only help people with red-green colorblindness but also help many others. For example, as mentioned in the article nurses can wear the glasses and detect and enhance veins, trauma, and bruising. This would greatly help patients who might be suffering from an internal injury. In addition, TSA agents could detect emotions easier and could potentially detect nervousness.
I think that this article was very well written. It explained why the glasses were developed and practical applications for them. However, the article did not mention how the glasses worked or what they were made of. I think that if the writer included this information it would have made the article much more informative and interesting. In addition, the article could have mentioned if these glasses would every become available to the public so everyone could benefit from them.
The review of “New Eye-wear could help people with red-green colorblindness was very well written. A good point made in this article was how the reviewer introduced the glasses and how color vision evolved in order to perceive oxygenation and hemoglobin variations in skin in order to detect social cues, emotions and the states of our friends or enemies. Another good point made was how the glasses are being used to correct red-green color blindness. The lenses increase the person’s awareness of oxygenated blood. These glasses are used for many things other than correcting vision including medical applications and police rooms to possibly be notified of a person’s “poker face.” Lastly, the review explained the actual helpfulness of the glasses. A man named Daniel Bor was tested for colorblindness before and while using the glasses. Without the glasses he failed the colorblindness test. But while he was wearing the glasses, all the answers were correct.
ReplyDeleteThis article was very informative but could use a bit more description of the prototype lamp that reduces glare and can potentially affect everyone in the room positively. Another thing that could have been better explained was just how the glasses work, look, and are made up. It is hard to imagine just how these glasses can alter vision in that they can correct vision.
I found this article very interesting. It will help in the future to possibly correct all types of colorblindness and have everyone seeing with normal color vision. The way the glasses can tell if a person is “bluffing” in a police questioning room could be of great use in the future as well.
Argentina’s review on the article, “New Eye-Wear Could Help People with Red-Green Colorblindness,” was very interesting. There were many aspects of the review that I thought were very well presented. For example, I liked how she described how red-green colorblindness was not necessarily a mutation, but an evolution. This explanation was very important, as the article describes the positive aspects of being red-green colorblind. Secondly, I liked how she included an example of a person benefitting from the special glasses created to provide a person with red-green colorblindness normal vision. I thought this was very important to show that the glasses do actually work. Lastly, I thought she did a really good job of explaining some very important uses of the glasses in the modern world. This was very important because it allowed the reader to understand the impact that the discovery of these glasses has on our world.
ReplyDeleteWhile I felt that her review was very good, there were a few things that I would have changed. For example, I would have described in a little more detail how the glasses worked. I felt that this would have allowed the reader to get a better understanding of the technology behind the glasses. Furthermore, I would have included if the glasses are on the market or if they are still in their prototype phase.
One interesting thing that I learned in this article is that red-green colorblindness is an evolved trait that has many important benefits including the detection of social cues, emotions and the states of our friends or enemies. With the invention of these glasses, now all people that are able to purchase them will be able to obtain the “superpowers” that are a result of red-green colorblindness
Maddy Foley
ReplyDeleteAP Biology
Comment #11
I read Argentina’s review of the article, “New Eye-Wear Could Help People with Red-Green Colorblindness.” The review was very well written and the information was presented in a comprehensible way. One thing I liked about this review was how the reviewer presented both the previously accepted idea on how color vision developed, and the newly proposed theory. While previously it was believed that color vision evolved so humans could pick the ripest fruits and vegetables, it is now being speculated that the evolution of color vision may have been to perceive oxygenation and hemoglobin variations in skin, in order to understand social cues, emotions and the states of acquaintances. Secondly, I liked that the reviewer included various uses of these recently developed “O2Amp” glasses. The glasses, which enhance the colors red and green, are not only being used by people living with red-green colorblindness, but also can be used by nurses to detect veins, trauma and bruising, or TSA agents to detect emotions more easily. Thirdly, I liked how the reviewer used a real life example to display the success of the glasses. Daniel Bor, who is red-green colorblind, failed the color-blind test without the glasses. But with them, he passed with a 100%. This provided a more real example of the glasses potential.
I think this review could be improved by explaining how oxygenation and hemoglobin variations may allow humans to understand the emotions of counterparts. In actuality, an increase in oxygenation and hemoglobin variations cause blushing and blanching, reactions that would not be visible without color vision. Secondly, I think this review could be improved with more description of the glasses physical form and how they specifically enhance color. This would have provided the reader with a better understanding of this new technology.
One thing I learnt from this review was that color-blindness has evolved because of a need. While I previously just assumed that humans have always been able to see color, I discovered that was actually not the case. It is interesting to see how humans have evolved.
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ReplyDeleteArgentina’s review of “New Eye-Wear Could Help People with Red-Green Colorblindness.” was very well written. In her review, she included a lot of information about colorblindness and how the issue can be ameliorated with glasses that reduce the effects of red-green colorblindness. She clearly displays what researchers perceive might have caused vision of color to develop. She also explains how the glasses are effective, as they help Daniel Bor, therefore showing how much the glasses can help and make a difference in people’s lives. Additionally, Argentina did well on summarizing the article and avoiding clutter and too much detail. Her review encompassed the entire article yet she presented the information in a much more concise manner.
ReplyDeleteAlthough these were several positive components to her review, there were a few things that I thought were missing from her article review. I think she could have tried to make her summary a bit longer. Though she did hit all of the key points in the article, she did not elaborate enough on each topic. I also think that she could have included a hyperlink so that we could click to the article for easy access.
I learned a lot from reading Argentina’s review, and found it very interesting. I was surprised to learn that eyewear can be used to help solve colorblindness; I had thought that color blindness was permanent.
Alexis Petnuch
ReplyDeleteThe review of “New Eye-Wear Could Help People with Red-Green Colorblindness” was well written and organized. A good point made in the review was that it was previously thought color vision evolved to enable humans to pick the ripest fruits and vegetables in the forest. It was also good that the reviewer goes on to mention how this theory is counteracted by the proposition made my Mark Changizi, who said that color vision evolved to perceive oxygenation and hemoglobin variations in skin to show emotions and social cues of those around us. The review also mentioned that Changizi used his theory in his lab to create glasses that people who were red-green colorblind could potentially use to see red and green colors.
There weren’t many things that could have been changed or added to this review, but it would have been beneficial to mention that although these glasses can aid in seeing green and red light, they do not correct total color blindness. Also, the fact that the prototype “O2Lamp” can potentially be used to create a friendly illumination that reduces glare so that everyone in the room experiences the effects without eyewear could have also been mentioned.
This article was interesting and I learned that something as simple as eye-glasses could potentially enhance the seeing of colors, especially for colorblind people. This invention can help in so many fields of work and can allow people to read other people and enhance their perception.