Seeing Red.

Someday red lights could stop more than cars-they could halt and even reverse blinding eye damage. To encourage plant growth in space, NASA designed a red light-emitting diode, the emission of which packs 10 times the energy of the sun's at the same wavelength. Astronauts found that the red LED, about the size of a pack of cards, also helped cuts to heal faster. Evidently the light stimulates mitochondria, the cell's powerhouses, through a still unknown mechanism. Neurotoxicologist Janis T. Eells of the Medical College of Wisconsin was studying methanol poisoning, believed to induce blindness by inhibiting mitochondria, which are especially active in the eyes.