The eye transduces light, and we usually do not think of it as a biomechanical structure. Yet it is actually a pressurized, thick-walled shell that has an internal and external musculature, a remarkably complex internal vascular system, dedicated fluid production and drainage tissues, and a variety of specialized fluid and solute transport systems. Biomechanics is particularly involved in accommodation (focusing near and far), as well as in common disorders such as glaucoma, macular degeneration, myopia, and presbyopia. In this review, we give a (necessarily brief) overview of many of the interesting biomechanical aspects of the eye, concluding with a list of open problems.

A technique borrowed from biology, rapid cryofixation/freeze fracture, has been adapted for the study of liquid–solid interfaces. This technique allows high-resolution imaging of the interfaces between water and substrates with varying degrees of hydrophobicity. The interface between gas-saturated water and hydrophobic surfaces is covered with a network of 100 nm scale features similar to those previously reported, while degassed water produces smooth interfaces. We thus confirm that the features are indeed nanobubbles which form spontaneously from dissolved gas in the liquid. The interface of gas-saturated water and a hydrophilic surface, while showing no evidence of nanobubbles, is not as smooth as the degassed interface.

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