Spectacles to Spec
When your eyesight blurs, the local optician can whip up a set of lenses quickly. But in rural areas of developing countries, corrective lenses are hard to come by. MIT instructor Saul Griffith has designed a solution: a briefcase-sized kit that uses an ordinary kitchen appliance to make spectacles to spec. “Essentially, it’s an orange press that can print lenses in the field at extremely low cost,” Griffith says. The kit uses standard safety glasses, costing less than a dollar, which are coated with an epoxy. The press imprints a prescription set of light-focusing concentric ridges. In minutes, out pops a flat Fresnel lens akin to those used in stoplights (photo). Students from Harvard Business School are working on distributing the lensmaker where it is most needed.
Keep Reading
Most Popular
Geoffrey Hinton tells us why he’s now scared of the tech he helped build
“I have suddenly switched my views on whether these things are going to be more intelligent than us.”
ChatGPT is going to change education, not destroy it
The narrative around cheating students doesn’t tell the whole story. Meet the teachers who think generative AI could actually make learning better.
Meet the people who use Notion to plan their whole lives
The workplace tool’s appeal extends far beyond organizing work projects. Many users find it’s just as useful for managing their free time.
Learning to code isn’t enough
Historically, learn-to-code efforts have provided opportunities for the few, but new efforts are aiming to be inclusive.
Stay connected
Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.