
UW scientists, biotech firm may have cure for colorblindness - mdturnerphys
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/uw-scientists-biotech-firm-may-have-cure-for-colorblindness/
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begriffs
Reading things like this make me reflect that more people should go into
medicine. Medical advances are way more profound than new apps or web pages.

What are some good ways for a programmer to help the field? Maybe learning
data science would allow me to help researchers while not knowing medicine
myself.

~~~
aaron695
> Medical advances are way more profound than new apps or web pages.

One of the main reasons medical advances are are coming out hard and fast is
because of "new apps or web pages."

I really don't get this anti-tech bent. These technologies and connections are
what is transforming science everywhere.

Personally I think saying most web apps are a waste is like saying the space
program is a waste. Personally I think these cutting edge technologies that
seems to have no use are taking us amazing places.

~~~
saraid216
> Personally I think saying most web apps are a waste is like saying the space
> program is a waste.

While I think you have a point, I think this line is taking it a step too far.

If a successful space program completely failed to actually produce any side
effect innovation, at the end of the day, we still go to space.

If a successful web app fails to produce side effects, you have a web app.
Depending on the app, this might be a good thing, but it's hard to reliably
say that a web app is comparable to going to space.

In my mind, the advantage of having so many smart people working on trivial
applications is that the risk of failure is low. If they were developing these
technologies in the medical world, the risk of failure is debilitation and
death. Comparatively, a giant privacy intrusion or not being able to play
League of Legends for a day is something I can, literally, live with.

~~~
settsu
Are you so unhappy with your life that you have to tear others down to feels
better?

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peatmoss
I wonder if this could be extended. The human visual system has some pretty
major limitations in terms of sensitivity to different parts of the color
spectrum. We know there are some rare women who have a mutation causing them
to have much greater sensitivity to different portions of the spectrum that
normally-sighted people perceive as blue. We call these women tetrachromats.

I, for one, am giddy at the idea of augmenting our senses to all be super-
sighted tetrachromats. The whole notion of literally expanding the way we see
the world has always been exciting beyond words. Maybe it's a result of having
grown up with Geordi on Star Trek TNG...

~~~
dEnigma
The question is whether we would actually profit from having more color
pigments or if the additional information would just get lost at the level of
optic nerves or in the brain, especially if you treat grown-ups.

~~~
neuronic
Have there been observations whether such augmentation could actually have
detrimental effects?

The rest of my comment is just speculative inquiry.

I imagine that neuroplasticity could have individuals quickly adapting to new
sensory information input. I wouldn't be completely surprised since new born
humans need ~6-8 months to fully develop sight to a level that is considered
'normal'. But neuroplasticity is far more potent at that age than later [1].

Considering a decline in potency with age, what if neuroplasticity cannot
account for the required adaptation in the adult brain's visual portion?

For one, the information could just get lost and be filtered out like you
suggested. But couldn't it also be misinterpreted with the effect of visual
disturbances etc.?

[1]
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21489387](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21489387)

~~~
daemin
I remember reading about people that implanted small magnets into their
fingertips (only on one finger), and were this able to feel the
electromagnetic field.

There's also the people that got hearing implants when they were adults, and
have adapted to the new sensation of hearing without much difficulty.

To me the human brain is quite adaptable, it is able to work around so many
deficiencies or other "defects", so I would be very surprised if adapting to
this new visual input was a big problem.

~~~
neuronic
I am not sure but isn´t the magnet-in-finger thing just caused by kinetic
energy of the magnet in response to EM fields? The magnet would move a little
in the finger (e.g. vibrate) and your nerves perceive a sensation equivalent
to touch.

The augmentation ends at the finger and the brain never has to adapt that much
at all.

The hearing implants are a different story altogether because hearing is
already fully developed in the newborn's brains [1]. So if you have hearing
issues due to biomechanical problems in your ear, the brain wouldn't need to
adapt at all when these issues are removed. You would merely form new memories
from new sounds but the sensory processing works normally from second zero
onward.

And if hearing is impaired due to neurological issues then I severely doubt
any current implant technology would change that. That would need to be much
closer to treating a stroke patient.

The human brain is extremely adaptable, yes. Much more so in young people than
in old. And apparently there is some variance with brain region
(responsibility) as well.

[1]
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1061088/](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1061088/)

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Lost_BiomedE
Oddly, I found the headline underwhelming, even if 'may' was not there. I then
found that fact overwhelming. Sure, when I think about curing colorblindness,
I find a lot of good in it. I just think that on casual passing, I can be
desensitized to the awesomeness that I read about every day. That is kind of
exciting.

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peterjmag
I have a relatively mild form of colorblindness, and I can only make out three
shapes in total on the testing cards in that photo—one circle in the top left
corner of the card on the left, and a triangle and a circle on the left half
of the card on the right. Can someone with normal color vision tell me what
I'm supposed to see there?

Interestingly, my eyes keep trying to "resolve" another circle in the top
right corner of the left card, but then when I actually focus on that part of
the image, it disappears again. It's a pretty strange sensation, almost as if
I were looking at a particularly tricky optical illusion.

[http://static.seattletimes.com/wp-
content/uploads/2015/04/fc...](http://static.seattletimes.com/wp-
content/uploads/2015/04/fcd29dcc-df0f-11e4-9831-b297f2987e27-1020x677.jpg)

~~~
Oatseller
Here's the photo with the shapes outlined.

[http://i.imgur.com/XLdBRX0.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/XLdBRX0.jpg)

~~~
srtjstjsj
FYI the rightmost figure is a deeper green than the 2nd-rightmost one; they
aren't the same color. It's similar to the difference (but not as pronounced?)
as the difference between the pink and purple on the left card (which i assume
is part of the intention of the color choices for the cards)

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pippy
I have severe red-green color blindness and moderate blue-yellow. As a web
developer it does make me extremely reliant on the color dropper tool, and I
often miss subtle color differences on pages. It's made me much more careful
about how I deal with images and color in general.

I have been looking for a solution to this, I was looking a company that made
lenses for the color blind: [http://enchroma.com/](http://enchroma.com/) but
it seems mostly like snake oil to me.

I will be watching this technology very carefully. I suspect it will be about
five years before we hit the market though.

~~~
rlneub
My brother has benefitted. Please look at below

[http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/story/28739137/color-for-
the-...](http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/story/28739137/color-for-the-
colorblind-with-en-chroma-lenses#.VSQYQfrgKj4.facebook)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTpCTDwjHZQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTpCTDwjHZQ)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgN-
SAbb7Zs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgN-SAbb7Zs)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHKXb3tXj24](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHKXb3tXj24)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzKZHrMVdcU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzKZHrMVdcU)

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marincounty
I can only see the O in the top left.(I am partially color blind, but forgot
what colors I can't see.)

I do know this--I worked as a Electrician, and at Telecom repair companies.
Since, all the manufacturers of wire had slightly different hues due to
production, I would alyways carry samples(pre labeled in my tool bag). As far
as I know I never made a mistake, but always double checked if even slightly
unsure. I think the color blindness made me more aware of errors. I never told
anyone, and would make up something if I needed perfect eyes. My favorite, and
sadly not a lie was, "I'm hung over Joe". What color is this?"

My grandfather who saw the world in black and white worked as a Printer, his
entire life, in different departments. He was so color blind he memorized
where individual traffic lights were placed (red on top in the U.S.). He only
told family members of his condition. No one knew he was color blind in all
his years as a Printer. This was through the 40-80's. He even got awards he
used to put on his living room wall. Today--he probally wouldn't even get
through the interview?

As to color blindness being a handicap--I'm not sure. I know in past wars,
they used to use color blind guys when looking for troops trying hide using
camafoge.(They could just spot the camafoge vs. the natural terrain?). There's
also some speculation some great painters like Picasso, Van Gogh were color
blind? I don't know if I would want to see the world differently. I do know I
have always been more concerned in function over form in projects. I just
don't care about the colors as much as some, but I do care about the
lines/perception and workable layout in building anything(websites to houses).

~~~
tempestn
At least until this treatment comes to market, there has been nothing you
could do to change your colorblindness. Therefore it seems to me pretty
natural that to have a positive outlook on life you would come to see it in as
positive a light as possible. In fact, it's a common psychological mechanism
to come to terms with elements of your life that cannot be changed, and to see
yourself as better off for them.[1]

There are certainly positive aspects to colorblindness, just as there are to
deafness, autism, and numerous other disabilities - even if it's simply that
it makes you more compassionate toward people with disabilities, or even
people in general. And as far as handicaps go, if it indeed is one, it's
certainly less impactful than most. Is it a handicap though? I would say a
handicap is something that prevents you from doing things that the majority of
the population can do, in a way that impacts your quality of life. For me, if
tulips looked like the right picture in the article[2], my quality of life
would be impacted to some extent, even if the day to day events of life
wouldn't much change. What if I've never experienced those colors though? Am I
still missing out?

It may seem like an academic question; after all, if you don't feel like
you're missing out and choose not to pursue treatment if/when it becomes
available, certainly it doesn't hurt anyone else. But it can become an issue
when you consider that the best time to administer such a treatment may be in
infant-hood. I've certainly read about deaf people refusing to give cochlear
implants to their deaf children because they don't believe that the child is
missing out on anything of value, and/or that the advantages of deafness and
the deaf community outweigh the disadvantages. Having normal hearing, I
certainly would not have wanted my parents to make such a choice. (Although
perhaps if I were deaf I would feel differently.)

Anyway, it's probably obvious which way my opinion goes, but mostly I think
it's a discussion worth having.

[1] Dan Gilbert's book Stumbling on Happiness is a good read on this and
related topics. [2] [http://static.seattletimes.com/wp-
content/uploads/2015/04/fl...](http://static.seattletimes.com/wp-
content/uploads/2015/04/flowers-1020x574.jpg)

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jdnier
I wonder how overwhelming it might be to suddenly see vivid reds and greens
for the first time, especially for an adult, and not be able to turn it off.

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abandonliberty
[http://enchroma.com/technology/](http://enchroma.com/technology/)

Glasses that enable people with the common type of colorblindness to see color
in bright areas.

Funny that the article doesn't mention them, I've heard very positive things.

~~~
yoda_sl
I am colorblind, and I have heard too about Enchroma... I do think that I have
no issue trying out a pair of glasses and see the difference rather than
betting on an injection in my eye... Don't take me wrong, I truly believe that
some technical advances in medicine are welcome and needed, but colorblind is
not a huge disability. I have learn to live with it, and it is not the end of
the world. It is great if it works, but I think colorblindness isn't a first
category Medical issue to be solved now.

~~~
saraid216
> It is great if it works, but I think colorblindness isn't a first category
> Medical issue to be solved now.

That's not how innovation works. It's not a tech tree in which you choose what
advance you discover next. You reflect on what you already know, intuit
hypotheses from this, and then test those hypotheses to figure out how false
they are.

Research isn't about solutions. It's about understanding.

~~~
settsu
why would you say that to someone.

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TheLoneWolfling
I wonder if this will suffer from the same sort of problems that other sense
restorations suffer from - namely that the brain has no idea how to interpret
the new inputs.

33% of the cones in your eye suddenly no longer being in synch isn't exactly a
minor change.

I suppose some help is better than no help, however. Hopefully.

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r-w
I wonder whether this could also help improve peripheral color vision in human
patients who are not colorblind…

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nirai
hallelujah!

