Cure for blindness

[iplop]

Dr. Keith Mathieson from the University of Glasgow’s department of physics is all set out to combat the two common forms of blindness. And what he uses is a technology very similar to the digital cameras that we’re all familiar with.

Dr Mathieson said, “By implanting a device into the eye, we hope we will be able to fool the brain into believing the retina is still in working order.”

I’m sure this is something that many of us have thought of. But the difficult lies in wiring the device to the optic nerves. Now that the scientists have done it, this is great news for the many unfortunates around the world.

The current prototype implant has only 100 pixels, not enough for patients to recognize faces just yet. But looking at how technology is progressing, Dr. Mathieson is confident that achieving the 500 pixels necessary for facial recognition is very attainable.

“Beyond where we are today it might be possible to make smart chips which have memory in them which would allow action replay and slow motion”, said Dr. Mathieson.

With “action replay” and “slow motion”, I shudder at the thought that even the non-disabled might just want to be a part of this as well.

Does anyone else find this to be simply amazing? I remember a year ago a university preformed a similar operation on a man who had never seen before in his life. At that time all they gave him was the ability to see random dots in the experiment. It's good to see just how far they have progressed in such a short period of time.
edit:I'm tired and not writing very legibly...

[Satchmo]

I saw something on TV like 7 or 8 years ago where they did something to a blind guy and he could see the image of a flower made up of lights. Looked kind of like a neon sign.

Progressed much? I don't know.

[dropofahat]

Even 500 pixels is not very much, but it sure is better than not seeing at all! It's great how science marches onward and upward.

I wonder how difficult it would be to "teach" the brain of someone who's been blind their whole life to see? It's second nature to sighted people, but as babies our brains spent a lot of time learning to interpret the signals. Interesting stuff.

But I have a feeling this thread will be moved, becuase it's not based on something from EBW (is it?)

[svenson_26]

Ya, i heard of this thing that you can get planted in your brain, and it hooks up to these super special sunglasses and it can make blind people see (maybe it's partial blindness, i dont know) A guy in toronto has it.

[fatass]

Amazing. Maybe soon blindness will no longer be a problem.

I actually have a cat thats blind. The vet had to remove her eyes when she was just a kitten because she had an infection in them. It would be great if she could be able to see again one day. Doubt that will happen though. She'll most likely be long gone by the time they perfect this technology for humans and start on an animal version.

[JayFlipz489]

Reading and hearing about all kinds of scientific breakthroughs like this one gets my mind going...it's awesome. I'm just curious to see if the real world in the future will look like the world we see in the movies (not over-the-top) like "The Island" or "I, Robot".

[Solidus]

wouldn't it be cool to have extraordanary amount of pixels...I don't know how it would change how we see but its gotta do something. action replay would be great for tests too :P.

[JayFlipz489]

it'll be cool to have a brain-controlled zoom function lol.

[ashley9]

Amazing. Maybe soon blindness will no longer be a problem.

I actually have a cat thats blind. The vet had to remove her eyes when she was just a kitten because she had an infection in them. It would be great if she could be able to see again one day. Doubt that will happen though. She'll most likely be long gone by the time they perfect this technology for humans and start on an animal version.
i doubt u would be willing to pay the money to make ur cat see again. (unless ur obsessive or rich)

it'll be cool to have a brain-controlled zoom function lol.
lol that would be sweet

apparently with this thing, u can have slow motion vision and replay

[A550RGY]

I'm REALLY digging that action replay idea. There are tons of moments in life I'd love to replay (and some I'd never play again). But imagine if you wore this since you were born. You could potentially rewind to ANY moment in your life and re-examine it with your current knowledge and perspective. With everyone having a "photographic memory", crimes would be solved with greater accuracy, people would be more introspective and conscious of their actions, and you could forever replay that moment when that hot chick at the beach had a nipple slip just 8 feet away from you.

[Dobby]

And to think Geordi LaForge had to wear some kind of "visor" to see on Star Trek:wave:

[JARJARJAR]

Cure For Blindness Is Masturbation

[MutantCircus]

Yeah, I'm sure I read about something quite similar to this at least 5 or 6 years ago. Most likely it's come a long way since then, but it's good news either way.

[Method]

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS??!!?
If we can fool the mind to think we have artificial eyes, you can make even more pixels maybe even SO MUCH that its SOOO sharp, and insert the best videocards IN UR EYES, after that WE COULD MAKE CABLES, to insert DVD PLAYERS!!!, we could look at virtual reality DVD's for the blind!!! AND HOW BOUT THIS: you could record DEMO's of actual events and replay them also rewind W/E, night-vision, you name IT!

AFter we have made artificial eyes we could upgrade to artificial ears O.o, OMFG the newest surround sound extra sharp audio + totally surround sound like IN YOUR BRAIN, LISTENING TO MUSIC... CAN YOU IMAGINE THAT!!?!?! How bout artificial touch and movement... WE COULD MAKE "THE MATRIX", but... even better like... virtua-pr0n!!! no more bad avi's and mpges of stupid home video pr0n, like REAL LIFE girls doing everything to please you!!! EXTREME-Pr0n!!!

OMFG IF WE COULD CRACK THE BRAIN WE COULD DO ANYTHING!!!
BRAIN-CHAT WITH FRIENDS!!!
BRAIN-PHONE WITH FRIENDS!!!
BRAIN-VIDEOGAMES, IMAGINE Counter-Strike Source, after a few years its like near-reality 3D, but imagine that in ur brain... it would be real life, how bout feeling the shots with on-line connection playing with other players that have internet connected to their brains!!!

That would be AWESOME, hope this shit works... goddamn...

[Bigheaded Chief]

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS??!!?
If we can fool the mind to think we have artificial eyes, you can make even more pixels maybe even SO MUCH that its SOOO sharp, and insert the best videocards IN UR EYES, after that WE COULD MAKE CABLES, to insert DVD PLAYERS!!!, we could look at virtual reality DVD's for the blind!!! AND HOW BOUT THIS: you could record DEMO's of actual events and replay them also rewind W/E, night-vision, you name IT!

AFter we have made artificial eyes we could upgrade to artificial ears O.o, OMFG the newest surround sound extra sharp audio + totally surround sound like IN YOUR BRAIN, LISTENING TO MUSIC... CAN YOU IMAGINE THAT!!?!?! How bout artificial touch and movement... WE COULD MAKE "THE MATRIX", but... even better like... virtua-pr0n!!! no more bad avi's and mpges of stupid home video pr0n, like REAL LIFE girls doing everything to please you!!! EXTREME-Pr0n!!!

OMFG IF WE COULD CRACK THE BRAIN WE COULD DO ANYTHING!!!
BRAIN-CHAT WITH FRIENDS!!!
BRAIN-PHONE WITH FRIENDS!!!
BRAIN-VIDEOGAMES, IMAGINE Counter-Strike Source, after a few years its like near-reality 3D, but imagine that in ur brain... it would be real life, how bout feeling the shots with on-line connection playing with other players that have internet connected to their brains!!!

That would be AWESOME, hope this shit works... goddamn...

someone doesnt take blindness and science seriously, WOW A CURE FOR AIDS IM GONNA GO GET LAID RIGHT NOW!!!!this shit is fucking 1377, you should be blind and then you will know that this isnt a laugh matter asshole

[Solidus]

I donno about you but virtua porn would make me never leave the house...and virtua video games? wow. I hope to see shit like this in my lifetime Also being able to record anything you want would make EBW the greatest site (as if it isn't) cuz any funny thing you do in ur life would be recorded.

[Schnokes]

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS??!!?
If we can fool the mind to think we have artificial eyes, you can make even more pixels maybe even SO MUCH that its SOOO sharp, and insert the best videocards IN UR EYES, after that WE COULD MAKE CABLES, to insert DVD PLAYERS!!!, we could look at virtual reality DVD's for the blind!!! AND HOW BOUT THIS: you could record DEMO's of actual events and replay them also rewind W/E, night-vision, you name IT!

AFter we have made artificial eyes we could upgrade to artificial ears O.o, OMFG the newest surround sound extra sharp audio + totally surround sound like IN YOUR BRAIN, LISTENING TO MUSIC... CAN YOU IMAGINE THAT!!?!?! How bout artificial touch and movement... WE COULD MAKE "THE MATRIX", but... even better like... virtua-pr0n!!! no more bad avi's and mpges of stupid home video pr0n, like REAL LIFE girls doing everything to please you!!! EXTREME-Pr0n!!!

OMFG IF WE COULD CRACK THE BRAIN WE COULD DO ANYTHING!!!
BRAIN-CHAT WITH FRIENDS!!!
BRAIN-PHONE WITH FRIENDS!!!
BRAIN-VIDEOGAMES, IMAGINE Counter-Strike Source, after a few years its like near-reality 3D, but imagine that in ur brain... it would be real life, how bout feeling the shots with on-line connection playing with other players that have internet connected to their brains!!!

That would be AWESOME, hope this shit works... goddamn...

If we turned our brains into super-computers like that, with my luck, I would get some kind of... "brain virus".

Schools would have special classes for kids whose brains lag. lol (is that cruel?)

Edit: Hot damn, this is getting off-subject.

[A550RGY]

someone doesnt take blindness and science seriously, WOW A CURE FOR AIDS IM GONNA GO GET LAID RIGHT NOW!!!!this shit is fucking 1377, you should be blind and then you will know that this isnt a laugh matter asshole

The truth is, everything Method mentioned would be something many people would be interested in. Sure, cure blindness first, they need it the most, but once that's done why not explore the technology to the fullest to benefit the rest of us? Television can be used to educate, but it also can be used to entertain.

And if AIDS and other STDs are one day fully cured, I bet a whole lot of people are going to be rejoicing about "getting laid".

[Griffin-Nary]

Though, It can only work with normal healthy retinas. It doesn't work if they are damaged or gone. But maybe a transplant or something to make the healthy retinas might also develop in the near future!