Top Stories 
Published On July 23, 2009
TECHNOLOGY
No Prescription is Necessary
These glasses offer a low-tech, low-cost, no-doctor solution for poor eyesight.
No prescription is necessary for a special pair of eyeglasses called Adspecs. Their sturdy plastic frames encase flexible, oil-filled membranes that change the refractive power of the lens as the wearer pumps oil in or out with a syringe. Pumping oil out draws the membranes together, curving the lens inward and correcting for nearsightedness. When oil is pumped in, the membranes (and lens) bow outward, improving close-range vision. Manufactured for around $19 a pair, Adspecs—short for adaptive spectacles—are a boon in places like sub-Saharan Africa, where there is one optometrist for every million people. With Adspecs, wearers need only an eye chart to fine-tune their vision.
Dispatches
Homegrown Kayse Shrum is launching the first U.S. medical school affiliated with a Native American tribe—part of a strategy to train doctors where they’re needed most.
Higher Education Medical marijuana has swept the country, but physicians aren’t trained how to use it.
Out of Pediatric Care, Into…? For young people with chronic illnesses, the transition into adult care can be uncharted—and dangerous—territory.
Beyond Cold Storage A metabolic slowdown would press pause on the body until surgeons can repair damage. How close is it to becoming a reality?
Riding a Wave of Sound One way to get drugs through the blood-brain barrier: smuggle them across using sound waves.
Under Your Skin Chronic itch is agony, but new treatments that target the neural pathways responsible could finally offer some relief.
Top Stories
The Battle of the Bouffant
Medicine and the Makers
Roderic Pettigrew is training a new hybrid specialty—half physician, half engineer.
