TruFocals Adjustable Eyewear
Middle age is often accompanied by the onset of presbyopia, a condition whereby the eye’s crystalline lens loses some of the youthful elasticity that enabled it to focus on nearby objects. The remedy for most people has been reading glasses or, for those already wearing prescription lenses, bifocals. For the handful of humans who work in the topsy-turvy environs of the space station or a spacecraft, presbyopia can be a bit more problematic because reading can take place at any number of odd angles, not to mention in microgravity, which tends to degrade vision.
Add to this the fact that many astronauts today are either at or approaching the age when presbyopia sets in, and it is not surprising that NASA is evaluating a new type of adjustable eyeglass lens called TruFocals for use during training and on missions. For the past six months NASA has been taking TruFocals (made by Van Nuys, Calif.–based Zoom Focus Eyewear, LLC) through a detailed certification process to ensure they are not only a better option than other types of eyeglasses but that the materials used to make them will not pose a hazard to astronauts in their enclosed work environs, says C. Robert Gibson, a senior optometrist at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston. One test includes burning the TruFocals to determine whether they emit any harmful gases.
Read Full Story at Scientific American
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