Wisconsin researchers have released a free software tool that could help Web surfers susceptible to certain seizures.
An estimated one in 4,000 people has photosensitive epilepsy and could suffer a seizure when exposed to bright colors and rapidly flashing images. The condition gained prominence in 1997 when more than 800 Japanese children were hospitalized after viewing a cartoon. Since then, television directors, video-game makers and others have tested their content to make sure it doesn’t reach seizure-inducing thresholds.
Web developers, though, didn’t have simple ways to run such tests. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison set out to change that.
“On the Web you really never know what’s going to pop up on the screen until it does, and one second later you could be having a seizure,” said Gregg Vanderheiden, the center’s director.
Web developers can use the Photosensitive Epilepsy Analysis Tool, or PEAT, to determine how fast an image blinks, for example, and let developers know whether it poses a seizure risk.
Content that doesn’t pass the test isn’t always risky. Researchers say flashy content that doesn’t fill at least 10 percent of a screen isn’t a danger.
Robert Fisher, the director of the Stanford Epilepsy Center in Palo Alto, Calif., said he knew of “dozens of clips” on YouTube that can provoke seizures. He advises viewers with epilepsy to avoid any sites where content blinks and flashes and to be ready to avert their eyes if necessary.
Dr. Giuseppe Erba, a neurology professor at the University of Rochester in New York, said Web developers now have a responsibility to use the testing tool to make sure the content they produce is safe.
Vanderheiden said his next priority is to create tools that give epileptics control over what is shown, so they wouldn’t have to rely on Web developers to run PEAT.
One option is a software tool that could detect and disable all blinking content, he said. Another might dim the contrast on the screen to mute the effect of changing colors.
Netflix Series “The Leopard” Spots Classic Italian Novel, Remakes It As A Sumptuous Period Drama
"The Leopard," a new Netflix series, takes the classic Italian novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and transforms it into a sumptuous period piece showing the struggles of the aristocracy in 19th-century Sicily, during tumultuous social upheavals as their way of life is crumbling around them.
Tom Shankland, who directs four of the eight episodes, had the courage to attempt his own version of what is one of the most popular films in Italian history. The 1963 movie "The Leopard," directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale, won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
One Italian critic said that it would be the equivalent of a director in the United States taking "Gone with the Wind" and turning it into a series, but Shankland wasn't the least bit intimidated.
He said that he didn't think of anything other than his own passion for the project, which grew out of his love of the book. His father was a university professor of Italian literature in England, and as a child, he loved the book and traveling to Sicily with his family.
The book tells the story of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina, a tall, handsome, wealthy aristocrat who owns palaces and land across Sicily.
His comfortable world is shaken with the invasion of Sicily in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was to overthrow the Bourbon king in Naples and bring about the Unification of Italy.
The prince's family leads an opulent life in their magnificent palaces with servants and peasants kowtowing to their every need. They spend their time at opulent banquets and lavish balls with their fellow aristocrats.
Shankland has made the series into a visual feast with tables heaped with food, elaborate gardens and sensuous costumes.... Read More