The eyes are windows to our future

When asked, people will say that eyesight is their most precious sense. But most people will not understand how complex and vital their eyesight is until things start changing.

As a highly social species, we use all our senses to interact with others. But sight is one of the most effective and useful in our ability to observe and navigate our surroundings, discern attitudes by facial expressions and body language, colours, light and shade.

Professor Khaw will take audiences through an extraordinary journey of the science behind our eyes, from how the visual system takes up more space in our brain than all other senses combined, to how it uses more than 10% of our body’s energy with some retina cells consuming more than heart cells.

As the population ages, it is important that research continues to play a vital role in eye disease management. Professor Khaw will talk further about how research, advances in gene therapy and the use of microdevices, less than a millimetre in width, are helping to treat eye disease.