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

The hype around DeepMind’s new AI model misses what’s actually cool about it
Some worry that the chatter about these tools is doing the whole field a disservice.

The walls are closing in on Clearview AI
The controversial face recognition company was just fined $10 million for scraping UK faces from the web. That might not be the end of it.

A quick guide to the most important AI law you’ve never heard of
The European Union is planning new legislation aimed at curbing the worst harms associated with artificial intelligence.

These materials were meant to revolutionize the solar industry. Why hasn’t it happened?
Perovskites are promising, but real-world conditions have held them back.
Stay connected

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.