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Bionic Eye Gives Blind Man Sight

Posted by samzenpus on from the all-the-better-to-see-you-with dept.

AmigaMMC writes "A man who lost his sight 30 years ago says he can now see flashes of light after being fitted with a bionic eye. Ron, 73, had the experimental surgery seven months ago at London's Moorfield's eye hospital. He says he can now follow white lines on the road, and even sort socks using the bionic eye, known as Argus II. I wouldn't go as far as claiming he regained his sight, but this certainly is a biotechnological breakthrough."

10 of 203 comments (clear)

  1. Then again by AnonGCB · · Score: 5, Funny

    He only got the starter package -- Due to the economy he couldn't afford his first choice with the laser.

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    http://CryoLANparty.com/ A lan I'm staff on!
  2. 73 years old? by amclay · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I would have imagined they would want a subject that would live for longer (average) so that they could continue to have studies about long-term use and wear on the eye socket. That being said, I'm glad progress is being made, and look forward to my own cybor...er replacement eye.

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    It's all fun and games till someone divides by 0. Then it's hilarious.
    1. Re:73 years old? by Abstrackt · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Maybe they wanted an older (closer to dead) person to test on because the process wasn't guaranteed to be safe.

      --
      They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. - Terry Pratchett
    2. Re:73 years old? by sjames · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Since it's an invasive procedure and quite experimental, they may also be considering that getting the 0.8alpha version could preclude getting the more perfected version later. So there's an advantage to a subject that would be too old to undergo an implant by the time the production version is ready. He gets some vision (which beats none) and nobody loses their chance for an even better outcome as a result of the experiment.

  3. When i see things like this... by glitch23 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I wish the scientists would provide a picture that represents what the person can see so we can see for ourselves just how much of a breakthrough it is. Obviously if the guy can perform daily tasks it is great and I'm happy for the guy but I'd like to see the qualify of the images he is seeing for my own curiousity.

    --
    this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. -- Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
    1. Re:When i see things like this... by bencoder · · Score: 5, Informative

      OK. this is the Argus II. Which means the MEA (microelectrode array) has only 60 electrodes. Call it 64 to make it easy. Take a picture from a camera. convert it to greyscale. Shrink it down to 8x8. Then expand it to fill your entire field of vision. (use a good enough editor- one that will do smoothing between pixels as you scale it up).

      That should give you a rough idea of how much data is actually available, and also why they don't want to show a picture- people wouldn't be impressed. But to me, this is exciting.

  4. Too bad he's in London by Guido+del+Confuso · · Score: 5, Funny

    He says he can now follow white lines on the road

    Here in California, that'd be good enough to issue him a driver license.

    1. Re:Too bad he's in London by geekoid · · Score: 5, Funny

      Follow, not snort.

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      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  5. Re:I'm not buying it by Spasemunki · · Score: 5, Funny

    Maybe he learned something from going blind the first time...

  6. Re:I'm not buying it by GoombaTroopa · · Score: 5, Funny

    This reminds me of a stupid idea I thought of once: A Braille monitor!

    I could imagine it now, a blind person moving their fingers across the screen, saying "There are two girls and a cup AARRGH AARRGH AARRGH AARRGH!!!"