Bionic Eye Gives Blind Man Sight Once Again

Th3Branded0ne

I'll be back.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,505154,00.html

A blind man can now see again, thanks to a 'bionic eye' implanted in his skull.

The 73-year-old Englishman had been completely blind for 30 years until last summer, when surgeons implanted an array of electrodes directly upon his retina, the image-sensing area at the back of the eyeball.

Now he can see the world again — albeit in black and white, and in only one eye, the BBC reports.

"For 30 years I've seen absolutely nothing at all, it's all been black, but now light is coming through. Suddenly to be able to see light again is truly wonderful," Ron, no last name given, tells the BBC. "I can actually sort out white socks, grey socks and black socks."

Ron wears a special pair of eyeglasses with a built-in video camera. The camera sends data to a receiver on the outside of Ron's temple, from which a wire runs into his eye to the elecrodes upon his retina.

The entire system, dubbed the Argus II, was developed by Second Sight, a biotech company in Sylmar, Calif.

"My one ambition at the moment is to be able to go out on a nice, clear evening and be able to pick up the moon," says Ron.

That's pretty good for him to be able to see once again. Must be quite expensive at the moment since it's new.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Th3Branded0ne said:
"My one ambition at the moment is to be able to go out on a nice, clear evening and be able to pick up the moon," says Ron.
Maaan, I never get cool quotes like that in my interviews :sad:

Cool story. I wonder though if his was a special case of blindness, or if this method could be applied to thousands of blind people.

Also, here's BBC's much more detailed article, with pictures and video :griffnotevil: : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7919645.stm
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Man, that's awesome. To think that by the time we hit the year 2100 deafness and blindness will be a thing of the past is really heart-warming. I just hope major breakthroughs come early enough that I can get my eyes enhanced so I can see in the dark. :badbone:
 

Vampire_Hunter_Bob

Cats are great
Aazealh said:
Man, that's awesome. To think that by the time we hit the year 2100 deafness and blindness will be a thing of the past is really heart-warming.

I think that will take a while. I remember reading a while back about deaf parents in the UK who were trying to have deaf babies. So it will be a while to get most people behind it.

And here is the link to that: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article3087367.ece
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Vampire_Hunter_Bob said:
I think that will take a while. I remember reading a while back deaf parents in the UK were trying to do something about making their children come out deaf. So it will be a while to get people behind it.

That's true, but those are a minority of crazies I think. The day parents will have the choice to get something like that "fixed" for their children at small cost, I'm quite certain that an overwhelming majority will do it.
 

Th3Branded0ne

I'll be back.

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Th3Branded0ne said:
I also read and saw a report that scientists are also manipulating DNA ,and you can have your baby with the skin color and eyes color you desire. Here's the link http://www.blackvoices.com/blogs/2009/02/17/have-it-your-way-dna-parents-pick-skin-and-eye-color/2
Looks like pimp my baby may take off for those who just don't want random DNA sequences to take place naturally.

From all the good science brings, it is also reciprocate for the bad uses you can have.

Well that's not really the same thing than fixing deficiencies post-birth through surgery and implants. What you're talking about is much more of an ethical dilemma. Not to mention that we don't know all that much about DNA.

But anyway the article (and your post as a consequence) is misleading in that it's only talking about a selection process for a couple. It'll likely be used to choose the gender of the future child in contexts where that matters (e.g. countries where people absolutely want a boy) more than anything else. A couple of white parents with brown eyes will not be able to produce an African-looking child with green eyes.
 
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