CGS-authored

Raymond McCauley may go blind as he gets older.

He knows this because when he had his genetic code read, he found out that he was likely to get age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

The disease leaves the sufferer with a very narrow field of vision.

As head of bio-technology at the world's most futuristic learning institution, Singularity University, he found the news "burdensome" at first.

"I had never heard of AMD, I had no family history of it and in many ways it was the worst story you can get in genetic diagnosis, 'Here's something that you didn't know about which we can't do anything about,'" he says.

"But I'm a scientist, so I read some papers and found out that there are some things you can do. You can take vitamins, you can get a certain ocular check-up. I stopped going to the mall to buy my glasses and started seeing a research ophthalmologist."

Now he feels a lot happier.

"What was an incurable, untreatable disease turns out to be fairly curable and treatable. I'm glad that I got...