When research is funded by the chaps at America's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) you can be sure of one thing - it's something that could contribute to super-soldier cyborg death machines. Or, you know, help people.
Their latest project is a telescopic contact lens that can magnify sight by 2.8 times.
Researchers led by Joseph Ford of UC San Diego developed the aid ostensibly to help people suffering from macular degeneration - but it's obvious why a military research organisation would also be interested.
The lense
The lenses works by having two distinct surface areas. The centre allows light through as normal for regular vision.
Around the edge however are a series of tiny aluminium mirrors that magnify the image before reflecting it onto the wearer's retina.
To switch between the two the user can toggle between them using polarising glasses like those used for 3D films.
The results
Clearly the lenses have great promise - both for helping those with eye disease and for raining death from far away.
There are some current design limitations however, namely the material used is not oxygen permeable making long use incredibly uncomfortable.
But this guy probably won't mind...
