Science Fiction Dictionary
A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

 

Implantable Prosthetic For The Blind

An implantable eye prosthesis has been proposed for people with eyes and optic nerves damaged by illness or head trauma. The basic idea is that signals from a camera worn in a pair of glasses will be transmitted to an implanted array placed in the part of the brain responsible for sight.


(Proposed implantable eye prosthesis)
Small digital camera mounted in lens; the signal is sent from an external processor to an implanted stimulator.

John Pezaris, the Boston neurosurgeon championing this idea, has modest goals at the outset. He says that "a remarkable amount of information can be conveyed in a relatively small number of pixels."

Much of Pezaris's work is based on "best guesses," he acknowledges. He and former Harvard Medical School colleague Clay Reid first described their research into visual prostheses in a paper published last May in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. The paper described experiments performed on two adult macaques with electrode brain implants to determine whether the primates would react when electric stimulation was applied. The researchers were able to show that microstimulation in certain areas of the brain does create a percept that the brain interprets as optical input, or something that can be "seen." The researchers were unable, however, to determine some of the details of the impression, such as its exact size or shape, although they knew that the percepts were, "like points of light, or single pixels," he says.

This device should remind readers of a variety of sfnal devices, but I thought of the replacement eye provided to Mark Marakson in Roger Zelazny's quirky but outstanding novel Changeling:

How long had it been - four, five, six days? - since the robo-surgeon had worked him over?

He raised his head. The room was dark. The thing which protruded from his left eyesocket hummed. Finally, it grew silent and he had vision on that side.

He... regarded himself in the mirror... He tapped lightly with his fingertips above the perimeter of the lens case, where it joined his brow and cheekbone... (Read more about the optic prosthesis)

Story from Scientific American via KurzweilAI.

Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 3/20/2008)

Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.

| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |

Would you like to contribute a story tip? It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add it here.

Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )

Related News Stories - (" Medical ")

Illustrating Classic Heinlein With AI
'Stasis, cold sleep, hibernation, hypothermia, reduced metabolism, call it what you will - the logistics-medicine research teams had found a way to stack people like cordwood and use them when needed.' - Robert Heinlein, 1956

Brainoware Reservoir Computation Of Biological Neural Networks
'Head cheese. Cultured brains on a slab.' - Peter Watts, 1999.

Forward CarePod The AI Doctor's Office
'It's an old model,' Rawlins said. 'I'm not sure what to do.'

Octopus Suckers Inspire Transdermal Patches
'...a capsule which he placed against his wrist.' - Philip K. Dick, 1960.

 

Google
  Web TechNovelgy.com   

Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.

 

 

 

 

Science Fiction Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's   1950's
1960's   1970's
1980's   1990's
2000's   2010's

Current News

Europa Clipper Plate Carries A Special Message
'...a universal cryptogram — yet it is one which can be interpreted by any intelligent creature on any planet in the Solar System!'

Micro-Robots Are Smallest, Fully Functional
'With a whir, the Scarab shot from the concealing shadows of the corner where it had hidden itself.'

AI Enhances Images Your Brain Sees
'I could have sworn the psychomat showed pictures almost as sharp and detailed as reality itself'

Illustrating Classic Heinlein With AI
'Stasis, cold sleep, hibernation, hypothermia, reduced metabolism, call it what you will - the logistics-medicine research teams had found a way to stack people like cordwood and use them when needed.'

Deflector Plasma Screen For Drones ala Star Wars
'If the enemy persists in attacking or even intensifies their power, the density of the plasma in space will suddenly increase, causing it to reflect most of the incoming energy like a mirror.'

DIY Robotic Hand Made After Loss Of Fingers
'I made them... with the fine work of the watchmaker...'

Cheap Drunk Driver Detection From UofM
"Look, I can drive... Start, darn it!"

Can A Human Land A SpaceX Rocket On Its Tail?
'If she starts to roll sideways — blooey! The underjets only hold you up when they’re pointing down, you know.'

Robot Snakes No Longer Stopped By Stairs
'...she dropped her hands from the wheel, took the robot snake from his box.'

Has Turkey Been Stealing Rain From Iran?
Can one country take another's rain?

We Need To Build Anti-Drone Systems For Civilian Spaces
'the real border was defended by ...a swarm of quasi-independent aerostats...'

SensorWake Scent-Based Alarm Clock
'The odalarm awoke Jorj X. McKie with a whiff of lemon.'

AI Worms That Spread
'...there were so many worms and counterworms loose in the data-net now'

Challenges Of Two-Armed Robots
When the left hand knows what the right hand is doing.

FlexRAM Liquid Metal RAM And One Particular SF Movie Robot
'Its lines wavered, flowed, and then painfully reformed.'

Ulm Sleep Pods For The Homeless
'The lid lifted and she crawled inside...'

More SF in the News Stories

More Beyond Technovelgy science news stories

Home | Glossary | Invention Timeline | Category | New | Contact Us | FAQ | Advertise |
Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™

Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.