RSS Feeds
Science
Improved Vision Implants Rejuvenate Damaged Retinas Like Digicam Sensors For the Eye
Posted by John Mahoney at 3:40 AM on September 26, 2008
The eye is a delicate thing. Most ocular implants that get too hands-on with your squishy sightballs cause rejections problems, but a new implant developed by the Boston Retinal Implant project shrinks the components significantly, allowing your eye to take on its cyborg enhancements without casting them off violently as unwelcome invaders.
For people with retinal diseases like acute macular degeneration or retinitis pigmentosa, vision is impared because the retina's photo-sensing cells become unreceptive to light; however, the nerves leading from the eye to the brain (the most Monster cables) are generally left in good shape. Implants like this one stimulate the sleepy retina cells with electric current, which is generated from the wirelessly-powered coil surrounding the iris and processed by a microcontroller in the tiny titanium case that sits on the outside of the eyeball.
This iteration is the first to have components small enough to be mostly external, which is less complicated from a bio-rejection standpoint. So to go where lasers can't, hopefully Eye 3.0 tech like this will pick up the slack. [Technology Review]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
SQLGuru
Posted 4:18 AM 26/9/08
That would be a very cool looking WebCam.....
SQLGuru
siville
Posted 4:16 AM 26/9/08
See?
siville
ilves
Posted 4:07 AM 26/9/08
On another note, how are we supposed to tell apart the Terminators now?
ilves
ilves
Posted 4:07 AM 26/9/08
new party trick... just roll your eyes down and freak out everyone around you.
ilves
RacecarBoobTat
Posted 4:06 AM 26/9/08
@Log1c: Haven't you ever popped out your eyeball and looked in the socket? There's a lot of extra space in there.
RacecarBoobTat
MrBlahBlah
Posted 4:02 AM 26/9/08
that gives me chills up my spine just thinking about it
MrBlahBlah
lilaliendog
Posted 3:58 AM 26/9/08
I wonder if the output could be increased to allow night vision abilities.
lilaliendog
ryno365
Posted 3:56 AM 26/9/08
that looks quite uncomfortable
ryno365
ripfire
Posted 3:55 AM 26/9/08
Forget it, I've seen this before. You put those on, and you start seeing things in the Universe no one else is suppose to see.
ripfire
RacecarBoobTat
Posted 3:54 AM 26/9/08
But why is there still nothing good for astigmatism?
I'm so tired of wearing glasses to read computer screens.
RacecarBoobTat
Jrsy is the dude, playing the dude, disguised as another dude
Posted 3:48 AM 26/9/08
See, I was right. Goodbye '2020' glasses. Huang Mei will cry when he sees this.
Jrsy is the dude, playing the dude, disguised as another dude
The Lab
Posted 3:45 AM 26/9/08
Considering what a contact lens feels like when it's moved off the cornea, this looks painful. And steampunk.
I thought macular degeneration was due to overgrowth of retina vasculature and injectable VEGF kinase inhibitors could stop the degenration. But what do I know?!?
The Lab
Log1c
Posted 3:43 AM 26/9/08
Is that the new Nehalem chip? or the K10 that we've been hearing about? Maybe they should have hit 32nm before grafting it straight to my eye.
I'm having a hard time believing that will fit in the eye socket and not be obtrusive.
Log1c
Jrsy is the dude, playing the dude, disguised as another dude
Posted 4:26 AM 26/9/08
@ilves: The Terminators are the one's with the RED eyes..
Jrsy is the dude, playing the dude, disguised as another dude
Vjeszczi
Posted 4:25 AM 26/9/08
Does it have a red led light package? You know, for Halloween and stuff
Vjeszczi
kcrochet
Posted 4:21 AM 26/9/08
Now, if only they could do something about all the floaters in my eyes!!!
kcrochet
Killjoy
Posted 4:48 AM 26/9/08
Zoom, infrared/heat vision, night vision, autofocus, min. 24 hours recording time, and under $1000 an eyeball, and I'd be seriously tempted.
I know, I know. By the time all that's perfected, I really will need new eyes.
Killjoy
codeBLUE
Posted 4:42 AM 26/9/08
@Vjeszczi: Lol, so you could go as Kano from Mortal Kombat.
codeBLUE
hkmp5n
Posted 5:01 AM 26/9/08
@lilaliendog: I wish. After my above mentioned surgery, I had to get an artificial lens implated. I literally begged and pleaded for some kind of night vision or IR lens but the docs insist they dont exist yet. I call shenanigans on that one! I think its a conspiracy!
hkmp5n
hkmp5n
Posted 4:59 AM 26/9/08
@Log1c: The eye socket is actually a lot bigger than you would think. My retina detached last year due to a traumatic injury and they implanted these big a$$ silicone bands around the outside of the eye just inside the socket pretty much the way that thing is implanted. They should me the actual buckles themselves. I couldnt believe how big they were and yet I cant feel them at all. My eye feels totally normal. The docs told me that there is relatively few nerve endings in that part of the eye, being that its normally not exposed at all and doesnt need them.
hkmp5n
thefutureisnow
Posted 5:41 AM 26/9/08
I wonder if you could make them operate like a real camera and take pictures every time you blinked.
thefutureisnow
Pope John Peeps II
Posted 5:30 AM 26/9/08
So how much essence do I have to pay to have these implanted?
Pope John Peeps II
lostarchitect
Posted 6:06 AM 26/9/08
@RacecarBoobTat: i would be too busy screaming and running around blindly to notice the actual eye cavity.
lostarchitect
hnkelley
Posted 5:59 AM 26/9/08
I want a web cam that looks like this. Well, two actually.
hnkelley
Stem_Sell
Posted 6:28 AM 26/9/08
It's settled then... they ayes have it!
Stem_Sell
Enochrewt
Posted 6:10 AM 26/9/08
@Killjoy: I'm with you there, just as I'm falling apart they'll have the tech to put me back together. Then I get to complain about I'm getting screwed as an early adopter ;)
Enochrewt
exer881
Posted 7:10 AM 26/9/08
wow, I want a blue and green one 0_o
exer881
tiredman9
Posted 6:57 AM 26/9/08
hey cartman theres an alien probe in your eye!
tiredman9
Kayonesoft
Posted 7:36 AM 26/9/08
Can't they just replace my entire eye and give me super vision like X-Ray and Infrared? Want to buy that.
Kayonesoft
misterwho
Posted 8:00 AM 26/9/08
Is it HD or just HD compatible?
Probably won't be painful if you never move your eyeball. Regardless, I wouldn't expect heat vision to come without a price.
misterwho
OpheliaNuddletits
Posted 3:49 AM 26/9/08
I have early stage Retinitis Pigmentosa, and its probably going to hit me within the next 2decades .. It is such a relief to know that this can possibly help me in the future.
OpheliaNuddletits
cafenitro
Posted 2:55 AM 27/9/08
Mad-Eye Moody from Harry Potter would be so proud.
cafenitro
Ben Zvan
Posted 6:20 AM 27/9/08
@The Lab: And they said steampunk was dead.
Ben Zvan