Eye Implants

alexthecheese · 19 Feb 2007 at 13:47

How amazing is this? A retina implant that gives blind patients sight. Some have already had a lower-resolution version for 5 years already, and the new version is some 4 times the resolution of the old. To even bridge the gap between human and machine is astounding, let alone give them the detail to allow them to function somewhat normally.

Fascinating stuff - maybe this is the beginning of a real Geordi LaForge!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6368089.stm

Phate · 19 Feb 2007 at 13:49

That's amazing.

If there was a public fund to this I would genuine donate to it

Hamish · 19 Feb 2007 at 13:51

Yeh amazing, also its pretty facinating that although the implant ony has 16 pixels or something the brain has adapted itself to interpolate the data and give the patient more vision than 16 pixels would normally allow.

Another question is how far will this go, will our implants eventually progress to the stage where healthy eyes are removed and replaced with implants, maybe for people such as fighter pilots first, then maybe thw whole population :/

dustiestrat · 19 Feb 2007 at 13:52

thats cool specially for those that have glasses and have more chance of loosing our site later in life hopefully be perfected by time my site starts going .

Phate · 19 Feb 2007 at 13:55

Hamish said:
Another question is how far will this go, will our implants eventually progress to the stage where healthy eyes are removed and replaced with implants, maybe for people such as fighter pilots first, then maybe thw whole population :/

Interesting question.

I can see it being useful for fighter pilots or something which requires you to have perfect vision.

But I wear contacts and if they could garuntee my sight would be perfect for the rest of my life I would pay to have new eyes

alexthecheese · 19 Feb 2007 at 13:56

That's what I'm thinking. The rate of progress with this, I am betting, will be pretty spectacular as once the interaction between the technology is set you only need to ramp up the resolution and field of angle before it really starts to become something truly exciting.

I hope they get something like this in place for those who are deaf/hard of hearing. My dad's hearing is terrible and he's only 50. If they could get some research into something similar for hearing then I would definitely plough some money into it.

dustiestrat · 19 Feb 2007 at 13:57

so would i ^^^ i couldnt think of anything worse than being blind i'd rather be deaf .

alexthecheese · 19 Feb 2007 at 13:58

Phate said:
Interesting question.

I can see it being useful for fighter pilots or something which requires you to have perfect vision.

But I wear contacts and if they could garuntee my sight would be perfect for the rest of my life I would pay to have new eyes

You could just have yours done with laser-fied dolphins though.

The only benefit I would realistically (I say realistically in the loosest sense

) would be if I could have telescopic vision and decent nightvision at extremely high resolution.

That and X-Ray perhaps..

Phate · 19 Feb 2007 at 13:59

dustiestrat said:
so would i ^^^ i couldnt think of anything worse than being blind i'd rather be deaf .

The thought of going blind scares the **** out of me

Which I why I cherish it so much with photography

Phate · 19 Feb 2007 at 13:59

alexthecheese said:
That and X-Ray perhaps..

hmmm....I wonder why

Phate · 19 Feb 2007 at 14:02

alexthecheese said:
You could just have yours done with laser-fied dolphins though.

Sorry I should have been more specific.

I meant if they could make my version better than what optitions already call "perfect" then I would pay to have new eyes

dustiestrat · 19 Feb 2007 at 14:03

Phate said:
The thought of going blind scares the **** out of me

Which I why I cherish it so much with photography

everythink i enjoy would be gone if went blind i couldnt handle it think i'd go mad couldnt watch dvds read a book properly play consoles . check girls out watch pron it would suck .

Phate · 19 Feb 2007 at 14:13

dustiestrat said:
read a book

Could still do that

We have Brail and Audio books for a reason

I think I would be so depressed because there are SO many things in this world that a lot of people have never heard of or don't appreciate when they are truely spectacular things to see, and those people would still all have their sight and don't appreciate them.

I know it sounds weird what I'm saying, but loss of sight is not something I wish upon anyone.

dustiestrat · 19 Feb 2007 at 14:15

Phate said:
Could still do that

We have Brail and Audio books for a reason

QUOTE]

i know but its not the same as picking it up and getting soaked into the book if you know what i mean its a diferent experience.

iCraig · 19 Feb 2007 at 14:17

Amazing stuff.

Bionic eyes would be a fantastic idea for those needing extraordinary sight. Imagine front-line soldiers being given the ability to zoom in and out, view different spectrum's and see in the dark. :cool:

Zip · 19 Feb 2007 at 14:17

Phate said:
Could still do that

We have Brail and Audio books for a reason

I think I would be so depressed because there are SO many things in this world that a lot of people have never heard of or don't appreciate when they are truely spectacular things to see, and those people would still all have their sight and don't appreciate them.

I know it sounds weird what I'm saying, but loss of sight is not something I wish upon anyone.

If ya peepers go then your ears will hear things better and you will intinctivly listen to things and hear a lot more detail from what ive heard

Zip · 19 Feb 2007 at 14:18

iCraig said:
Amazing stuff.

Bionic eyes would be a fantastic idea for those needing extraordinary sight. Imagine front-line soldiers being given the ability to zoom in and out, view different spectrum's and see in the dark.

they already have goggles that do that

iCraig · 19 Feb 2007 at 14:24

Zip said:
they already have goggles that do that

Which have many disadvantages. Having it built in to your eye (with the ability to have 'normal' vision) would be a break-through.

It would have brilliant off-duty advantages too.

"Sarge, do you see that woman in the window having a shower?"

"Where?"

"3 miles north Sarge.."

*VREEEEEEE* "Oh, yes.."

Glaucus · 19 Feb 2007 at 14:35

Yep, is very exciting, although the retna and optic nerv have to be intact. Just not the cones. But still should help thousands on thousands of people to see. I'f I was blind I would gladly take 20 pixles over nothing at all.

Slightly different to previous ones I've seen.

The ones I've seen before have been light sensitive chips and nodes directly placed onto the retina.

This uses a camera, so maybe they can make the nodes smaller and so fit more onto the retina.

60 pixles, should give people enough to manoeuvre about the place.

PaulStat · 19 Feb 2007 at 15:22

Zip said:
If ya peepers go then your ears will hear things better and you will intinctivly listen to things and hear a lot more detail from what ive heard

urban myth methinks