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DON’T throw away your reading glasses just yet, but one day you may be able to restore your eyesight by lightly tapping the side of your head. That will tighten a band of artificial muscle wrapped round your eyeballs, changing their shape and bringing blurry images into focus. While the idea has a high ‘yuk’ factor, the people behind it are confident it will be a safe and effective way to improve vision.

Mohsen Shahinpoor and his team at the University of New Mexico call their artificial muscle a “smart eye band”. It will be stitched to the sclera, the…

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