The BBC News has an interesting article about “a revolutionary piece of technology” that has the potential to help the blind see.

A bionic eye “designed by Professor Gislin Dagnelie at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore” was unveiled “at a Royal National Institute for the Blind conference in London on Monday.” The device is comprised of “a computer chip that sits in the back of the individual’s eye, linked up to a mini video camera built into glasses that they wear.”

The breakthrough is likely to benefit patients with the most common cause of blindness, macular degeneration, which affects 500,000 people in the UK.

This occurs when there is damage to the macular, which is in the central part of the retina where light is focused and changed into nerve signals in the middle of the brain.

The implant bypasses the diseased cells in the retina and stimulates the remaining viable cells.

Currently the images produced by the device are far from perfect and the technology has a long way to go, but Professor Dagnelie said:

We are hoping this will be enough for the person to be able to make their way through a building, find a door or window and avoid obstacles for example.

To us, the images look very basic but for someone who was previously blind they are a massive step forward.

This is a great example of technology advancing and bettering society. As a person with bad eyes myself, I know how precious vision is. It would be great if technology were able to help let those who have gone blind see again.