via wordlesstech.com
The Second Sight ‘Argus II’ artificial retina, just receiving FDA approval to be legally transplanted in patients, allowing the blind to partially see again through bionic eyes.
Showing posts with label implant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label implant. Show all posts
Monday, February 18, 2013
Friday, February 15, 2013
Crazy Brain Implants Give Lab Rats a Sixth Sense and Let Them "Touch" Light
via gizmodo.com
t's not every day that science and crazy brain implants lead to the generation of what is essentially a new sense, but it is that day today. Scientists from Duke University have found a way to make rats "feel" invisible infrared light and someday that same tech could give sight to the blind, or give us humans extras senses for fun.
In the experiment published in Nature, rats were first taught to respond to one of three normal, visible lights by sticking their noses into a little port that corresponded with the illuminated light. Then, the researchers implanted small, infrared-detecting microelectrodes—each roughly a tenth of the diameter of a human hair—into the part of the mice's brains that parses touch. Right after the implantation, the mice reacted to infrared stimulus by rubbing their faces, indicating that they were "feeling" the light, but eventually they learned to respond to it exactly how they'd responded to the visible lights in earlier tests. Something akin to "seeing" it or "feeling" it but not quite either.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
The Bio-Retina Implant Could Give Sight to the Blind, With Laser Power
via popsci.com
A new bionic eye implant could allow blind people to recognize faces, watch TV and even read. Nano Retina’s Bio-Retina is one of two recent attempts to help patients with age-related macular degeneration, which affects 1.5 million people in the U.S. Although a similar implant, Second Sight’s Argus II, has been on the market in Europe since last year, it requires a four-hour operation under full anesthesia because it includes an antenna to receive power and images from an external apparatus. The Bio-Retina implant is smaller because it doesn’t have an antenna. Instead, the implant captures images directly in the eye, and a laser powers the implant remotely. Because of Bio-Retina’s compact size, an ophthalmologist can insert it through a small incision in the eye in 30 minutes—potentially more appropriate for seniors. The Bio-Retina will generate a 576-pixel grayscale image. And clinical trials could begin as soon as next year.
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