Tiny Telescopes Help The Blind See Again

@frigg: I'm not sure the heart or hip joints are the best examples. Hip implants only work okay because they're usually for older people, so they don't have time to wear out and tend not to be used as vigorously as a younger patient might use them. Otherwise, the hardness of the titanium leads to bone adaptations that aren't exactly ideal. The bone around the titanium no longer receives the same compressive force (since the titanium is harder and doesn't compress as far under load), so it adapts and lowers its own hardness, which means your implant is sitting in softer bone.

Also, the heart may be replaceable by artificial means for short periods of time, but there's a reason why they don't just give every coronary artery disease patient an artificial one instead: you have to take tons of anti-rejection medication and blood thinners, even if you just replace a heart valve, let alone your entire heart. Also, open-heart surgery will probably always be one of the most taxing procedures you can have, and the idea of having to replace your artificial parts every decade or so (because of protein buildup, mechanical wear, etc) means you get to be taken out of your life for a few months every 10 years or less to recover from it. Not exactly fun or convenient.

Obviously, this may change in the future, but I'm not sure it's within our lifetimes. I think the idea of growing replacement organs is much closer than bionic parts, and probably much easier to live with, requiring little medication or follow up.

kagekiri

@craig_16:

Doubt it, I think Bionic eye techonolgy will be so far advanced in the future to the point where people with good eyes will want to trade em for a set, that can zoom or do other visual enhancements.

Considering my Grandfather had Macular Degeneration, I am very glad to see developments that will let people see better.

bustedchain

@FrankenPC:

To hell with nano batteries. It'll be powered by the human body itself!

olternaut

Very old technology this I'm afraid. Just new spin on something that's been done for years and years for VERY SPECIFIC conditions within the MD spectrum of disease. Of much more interest is John Marshalls new MD treatment - still at experimental stage mind you using low pulse laser technology.
Sorry to proverbially pee on your fire...

David Bennett

@selianth: Take eyeCaps. They are vitamins for eye health. They are supposed to help in preventing it, or at least slowing it down.

@craig_16: I think the answer is unequivocally yes. Already, artificial replacements for worn out body parts like hearts and hips are common. This past year a prosthetic leg almost disqualified an olympic contender because it was thought to give him an advantage.

Increasingly, people are becoming cyborgs and it will only continue, with artificial enhancements incorporated into every physical system, from respiration to metabolism, blood to brain.

I imagine there wil come a day not too long from now when a multi-spectral image enhancer with long lasting nano batteries will be the size of a BB. I'll be the first one to line up for that enhancement.

As long as I have enough Adam (TM)...

FrankenPC

@Jake712: Hello Bill, Brat, Lisa, Expecting....Oh, the cards need to be updated.

@mikekearn: IIRC, he was born blind, as i seem to recall him talking about pre-VISOR days where he was caught in a house fire.

@jake712 There was a scene like that in the cold opening. He explained just like you can pick a voice out of many in a crowd, or a musician can pick one song/instrument out of a cacophony, he could sort through all the "noise" and "see" what he needed.

Actually, this was a scene from "Measure of a Man" where Data's status was in question, and Picard was querying weither it was not worth the risk to subject himself to dis-assembly/re-assembly if it meant they could have an android on par with him on every ship.

This seems pretty similar to the K-Pro (Keratoprosthesis) procedure they've been doing for a while now. Seems to me this is not so new, and is already done daily in the USA. The "telescope" thing is also not new. I've heard of it being done already before now.

darex

@mocax: Wow, with a little briefing card, "Bill. Has two kids in high school. Wife left him don't ask about her. Likes fishing and golfing. Met him at Frank's wedding summer '07 (link to Frank's wedding).

Jake712

@mikekearn: I recall they had a brief scene in which he talked about how much more comprehensive his vision was. They showed his vision through his eyes while he went on about how spectacular it was.

My reaction, and probably many people's, was that it was horrible and confusing and certainly not a pretty way to see things compared to our vision. Even though his enhanced vision is technically superior, I would absolutely not want it unless the only other option was blindness.

My impression was that the point of the scene was the adage, "it's all in what you're used to".

Jake712

@dalejrfanfreak: My grandmother on my mom's side suffers from it as well. Her mother and all her sisters went blind from it. Unsurprisingly, it tends to be geneticly inherited through the mother's line. My mom, at age 65, hasn't seen any symptoms yet but probably will within another 5-7 years. I'm hoping by the time I get to that age there will be cures (or workarounds, like this procedure) for it!

selianth

My mom has macular degeneration.. She is schedualed for laser eye surgery for cataracts; in the coming week

Uncletwitch

@Summermodoin'_GitEmSteveDave:
Wasn't there a chance of the operation totally not working and screwing up his ability to ever see anything again, visor or not? That was what I seem to recall, and if such was the case, I'd imaging they'd be reluctant to force it on everybody.

@craig_16: Sir, Lieutenant La Forge's eyes are far superior to human biological eyes. True? Then why are not all human officers required to have their eyes replaced with cybernetic implants?

its pretty clever stuff but i still think the pinnacle of artificial vision tech is the dobelle AVS, id love to know if its possible to connect the system to a person with a working set of eyes, could we overlay images onto someones vision? imagine using your pc via an "in-eye" interface or watching a movie that totally filled your vision like a mile wide screen, even expansion of the senses, just because our eyes cant process infra red doesnt mean our visual cortexes are not capable of processing them, imagine adding infra red, zoom or night vision to your eyes

spudhed

I wonder if there will ever be a day when bionic eyes will be able to add functionality to an already perfectly healthy eye. The way things are going, in a few decades we could have people with zoom lens night vision eyes, all solar powered and integrated into their eyeball. Ah, the future.

On a side note, being in Europe, this Monday morning lul means I have no Gizmodo to read... I guess I should do some actual work!

i cant wait till we get cyborgs.

NotSoSiniSter

can I get some lens 100x, with some HUD vision

@InsidiousTuna: I hope I never NEED ocular augmentation, but if they let me have super vision...I may have to see if my insurance will cover it.

Darkest Daze

i've always been bad with faces....
wonder if they'll make one that can add tags to people's faces...

mocax

My grandpa has macular degeneration and it is a devastating thing to see him go through that. He used to love playing golf and he was so social when I was younger but now that he's almost lost his sight he can barely do anything. Late last year he fell, hit his head, and almost died all because he couldn't see a small step. I wish this technology was out years ago so he wouldn't be a slave to immobility. Anytime I get down about stuff I realize at least I have my health. Luckily it seems technology will let more people have their health back up to par.

dalejrfanfreak

@InsidiousTuna:
do some drugs and you'lll enter another dimension with your eyes

Adrian Pratoomporn

@InsidiousTuna: Save me a spot.

I'm lucky to be blessed with standard 20-20 vision, and hope to never have a need for ocular augmentation. That being said, when it becomes standard procedure for people to receive computer chip implants for crazy HUD shit, I'll be first in line.