{"382251":{"#nid":"382251","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Easy on the eyes: How eyelash length keeps your eyes healthy","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIt started with a trip to the basement of the American Museum of Natural History in New York to inspect preserved animal hides. Later, Georgia Institute of Technology researchers built a wind tunnel about 2 feet tall, complete with a makeshift eye. By putting both steps together, the team discovered that 22 species of mammals \u2013 from humans, to hedgehogs, to giraffes \u0026shy;\u2013 are the same: their eyelash length is one-third the width of their eye. Anything shorter or longer, including the fake eyelashes that are popular in Hollywood and make-up aisles, increases airflow around the eye and leads to more dust hitting the surface.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cEyelashes form a barrier to control airflow and the rate of evaporation on the surface of the cornea,\u201d said \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/amador.gatech.edu\/Default\/Welcome.html\u0022\u003EGuillermo Amador\u003C\/a\u003E, a Georgia Tech Ph.D. candidate in the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.me.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EGeorge W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E who authored the study. \u201cWhen eyelashes are shorter than the one-third ratio, they have only a slight effect on the flow. Their effect is more pronounced as they lengthen up until one-third. After that, they start funneling air and dust particles into the eye.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe study, \u201cEyelashes divert airflow to protect the eye,\u201d is currently published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAmador and the research team, which is led by mechanical engineering Associate Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.hu.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EDavid Hu\u003C\/a\u003E, sent a student to the museum in 2012 to measure eyes and eyelashes of various animals. Aside from an elephant, which has extremely long eyelashes, every species studied had evolved to the same ratio of lash length to eye width.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe team then built the wind tunnel to re-create air flows on a mimic of an adult, human eye. A 4-millimeter deep, 20-millimeter diameter aluminum dish served as the cornea. It sat on top of an acrylic plate, which imitated the rest of the face. Mesh surrounded the dish to replicate the eyelashes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThey discovered the ideal ratio while varying the mesh length during evaporation and particle deposition studies.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAs short lashes grew longer, they reduced air flow, creating a layer of slow-moving air above the cornea,\u201d said Hu, who is also a faculty member in the School of Biology. \u201cThis kept the eye moist for a longer time and kept particles away. The majority of air essentially hit the eyelashes and rolled away from the eye.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe opposite process occurred with longer eyelashes. The lashes extended further into the airflow and created a cylinder. The air and its molecules channeled toward the eye and led to faster evaporation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis is why long, elegant, fake eyelashes aren\u2019t ideal,\u201d said Amador. \u201cThey may look good, but they\u2019re not the best thing for the health of your eyes.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThere are exceptions, though. The research team notes that people who can\u2019t grow eyelashes could wear fake ones, if they\u2019re the correct length, for extra protection and to reduce dry eye.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cEven if they\u2019re not the correct length, more eyelashes are always better than less,\u201d said \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.me.gatech.edu\/faculty\/alexeev\u0022\u003EAlexander Alexeev\u003C\/a\u003E, an associate professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering. \u201cIf fake eyelashes are dense enough, they may give the same overall effect in protecting the eye even if they are longer than one-third.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThey team also says the findings could be used to create eyelash-inspired filaments to protect solar panels, photographic sensors or autonomous robots in dusty environments.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThis work was supported by the National Science Foundation award numbers PHY-1255127 (Career Award) and CBET-1256403. Any opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the sponsoring organizations.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Study finds that animals and humans have similar lash length"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETwenty two species of mammals \u2013 from humans, to hedgehogs, to giraffes \u0026shy;\u2013 are the same: their eyelash length is one-third the width of their eye. Anything shorter or longer, including the fake eyelashes that are popular in Hollywood and make-up aisles, increases airflow around the eye and leads to more dust hitting the surface.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The optimal eyelash length is one-third the width of your eye."}],"uid":"27560","created_gmt":"2015-02-25 08:36:59","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:02:51","author":"Jason Maderer","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2015-02-25T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2015-02-25T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"382231":{"id":"382231","type":"image","title":"Goat eyelashes","body":null,"created":"1449246231","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:23:51","changed":"1475894395","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:39:55","alt":"Goat eyelashes","file":{"fid":"75308","name":"goat_1.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/goat_1.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/goat_1.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":387055,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/goat_1.jpg?itok=rfyak75V"}},"382211":{"id":"382211","type":"image","title":"Sheep eyelashes","body":null,"created":"1449246231","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:23:51","changed":"1475894395","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:39:55","alt":"Sheep eyelashes","file":{"fid":"75306","name":"sheep-gt.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/sheep-gt.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/sheep-gt.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":134052,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/sheep-gt.jpg?itok=sQEFku1a"}},"382201":{"id":"382201","type":"image","title":"Giraffe 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eyelashes","file":{"fid":"75307","name":"ostrich-gt.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/ostrich-gt.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/ostrich-gt.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":121767,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/ostrich-gt.jpg?itok=F-SUz7z_"}},"382241":{"id":"382241","type":"image","title":"David Hu","body":null,"created":"1449246231","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:23:51","changed":"1493396247","gmt_changed":"2017-04-28 16:17:27","alt":"Daivd Hu","file":{"fid":"75309","name":"hu.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/hu.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/hu.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":24895,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/hu.jpg?itok=3IFHegGR"}},"382281":{"id":"382281","type":"image","title":"Guillermo Amador","body":null,"created":"1449246231","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:23:51","changed":"1475894398","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:39:58","alt":"Guillermo Amador","file":{"fid":"75312","name":"guillermo.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/guillermo.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/guillermo.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1754174,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/guillermo.jpg?itok=RlCHJv5Z"}},"382261":{"id":"382261","type":"image","title":"Alexander Alexeev","body":null,"created":"1449246231","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:23:51","changed":"1475894398","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:39:58","alt":"Alexander Alexeev","file":{"fid":"75310","name":"alex_0.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/alex_0_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/alex_0_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":841337,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/alex_0_0.jpg?itok=T6D6xOLr"}}},"media_ids":["382231","382211","382201","382221","382241","382281","382261"],"groups":[{"id":"1183","name":"Home"}],"categories":[{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"297","name":"David Hu"},{"id":"119611","name":"Eyelashes"},{"id":"541","name":"Mechanical Engineering"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71891","name":"Health and Medicine"},{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJason Maderer\u003Cbr \/\u003ENational Media Relations\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:maderer@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emaderer@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-385-2966\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["maderer@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}