New Artificial Retinas Anticipate Geordi's VISOR

Artificial Retinas Set Their Sights on Star Trek's VISOR

Contrary to popular belief, the blind really can lead the blind -- and
maybe everyone else as well. An ambitious research project has enabled
visually-impaired subjects in the U.S., Europe and Mexico to regain some
of their sight using an innovative device called an artificial retina.
Might this mean the end of blind people developing those extra-keen
auxiliary senses, like Daredevil's ultra-accurate hearing? Perhaps, but
it could also herald a new era of super-sensory devices like Geordi La
Forge's VISOR on Star Trek.

Here's how it works: A study participant wears glasses containing a tiny
camera, along with a video processor strapped to his waist. Images from
the camera are analyzed by the processor and converted into
configurations of light and dark. That information is then transmitted
to a sheet of electrodes surgically implanted into the patient's eye,
and the visual signal travels from there to his brain via the optic
nerve. So far, the improvements are limited to light and motion
detection, and the ability to differentiate between objects. (You'll
still need 20/20 if you need to, say, eject a warp core.) But as the
technology improves, researchers -- led by James D. Weiland and Mark S.
Humayun of USC -- expect that reading, writing and facial recognition
will be possible.

It's "a very crude image," says Jessy D. Dorn of Second Sight Medical
Products, the device's manufacturer, and doesn't have nearly the
capabilities of Star Trek's VISOR, which can detect infrared light and
radio waves. Then again, it probably won't cause headaches like those
that plagued the Enterprise's chief engineer (who by Star Trek: First
Contact had opted for optical implants himself).

All of this is not to say that blindness is always a negative. Would the
beautiful blind bimbo Claire have fallen for the lumpy, goopy Toxic
Avenger if her first impression of him had been visual? There's a reason
The Dating Game kept the bachelors behind a screen.

No matter. The recipients of microelectronic implants are probably not
asking themselves such questions; they're just grateful for the
opportunity to see again. One study participant was very pleased with
the results of her prosthesis: "I can see my hand when I'm writing. At
Little League games, I can see where the catcher, batter and umpire
are." Shawn Kelly, an MIT researcher, notes that "Anything that could
help them see a little better and let them identify objects and move
around a room would be an enormous help." Geordi may secretly long for
human sight, but you never hear him complaining about having to walk
around with a hair clip over his eyes all day.

To date, this electronic visual prosthesis has been used on people with
retinitis pigmentosa, a disease that destroys the eye's photoreceptor
cells, but it's expected to also be useful in treating age-related
macular degeneration, which damages the retina. Other causes of
blindness -- damaged corneas, for instance -- require other cures. In
osteo-odonto-keratoprosthesis surgery (just sound it out), a new cornea
is constructed using the root from a patient's own tooth, usually the
canine. That's right, people are actually giving their eyeteeth to
regain their sight. Not that the newly toothless should fret -- Dr.
Crusher is sure to replicate you a killer set of dentures in no time.

http://blogs.amctv.com/scifi-scanner/2009/09/star-trek-visor.php

[
Actually, this reminds me more of the bionic eye worn by the Six Million
Dollar Man.
]


--
Steven L.
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