Myopia is commonly known as being nearsighted or shortsighted)and is a condition of the eye where the light that comes in does not directly focus on the retina but in front of it. This causes the image that one sees when looking at a distant object to be out of focus, but in focus when looking at a close object. In other words, close is good and far is blurry. Scientists have now discovered 24 new genes that cause refractive errors and myopia — an important cause of blindness and visual impairment worldwide, which has no cure to date. The findings, published in Nature Genetics, reveal genetic causes of the trait, and this may help in finding a solution.