Major League Baseball is back, and so is the 100-mph fastball. How is a batter able to hit a ball traveling faster than the eye’s ability to track it? The answer lies with the retina’s ability to signal the brain to anticipate the future, or predictive motion encoding.

We’ve all experienced the feeling of someone looking at us, even if we don’t see them. A look over the shoulder or a turn of the head, and sure enough, there they are. Hopefully, the look is with admiration for our stunning eyewear or new outfit. But how did we know we were being watched? Scientists are finding evidence that it’s another feature of the eye-brain connection, rather than just a feeling.

According to The American Board of Optometry, Americans are on their computers and other electronic devices more than ever before—an average of 7 hours a day—and it's causing an unprecedented amount of eye-related symptoms. Clinicians commonly refer this to as Digital Vision Syndrome (DVS), or Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS), with headaches, dry eyes, neck pain, and eyestrain or asthenopia being some common complaints. An estimated 50-90% of adults who work on computers and children who stare at tablets or other devices report symptoms of DVS.

Visual artist Trebs Thompson recently finished the third of a three panel, stained glass room divider, but she was working against time. About six years ago, Thompson was diagnosed with Type 2 parafoveal macular telangiectasia (MacTel), a rare, progressive disease in which blood vessels around the fovea become abnormal, and new blood vessels may form under the retina and leak. Tissue in the macula or the fovea may thin out or form a scar, causing loss of detail and central vision. Loss of central vision progresses over a period of 10 – 20 years, and Type 2 MacTel affects both eyes. To date, there are no treatments that significantly improve vision.