On the Horizon: Cure for the Colorblind

Colorblindness can take a toll on everything from career choice to reading traffic lights—but for those who suffer from the condition, things are improving, and scientists may even be moving closer to a cure. Many people don't even realize they are colorblind, but an upcoming genetic test will offer detailed analysis of the condition. And already, apps like DanKam offer colorblind people a helping hand: They can peer through a phone's camera to have colors around them heightened and clarified. "It is like having magic eyes," a user tells the Wall Street Journal.

Also available: tinted contact lenses and glasses that, according to their makers, brighten colors that some people struggle to identify. Some video games also now offer colorblind modes that substitute shapes for colors. And various financial companies are supplementing their trading tools with symbols to make things easier. Meanwhile, scientists at the University of Washington are working on a cure: In 2009, they were able to use gene therapies to fix red-green colorblindness in squirrel monkeys. Questions remain over the safety of the procedure, however. (More colorblindness stories.)