Ameya
Posting #4
Topic: Science
Title: Retinal Implants Could Restore Partial Vision
Author: Rachel Ehrenberg
Publication: Science News
Publication date: May 13, 2012
442 words
Scientists have found that it might be possigble to restore partial vision to people who suffer from blindness. This study implanted solar cell-like chips into rat retinas in order to improve vision, and found that the surgery required was relatively simple and uninvasive. The surgery hasn't yet been tested on humans, but scientists are optimistic based on their findings in rats. Such disorders as retinitis pigmentosa, which leads to night blindness and tunnel vision, and macular degeneration, which causes the loss of peripheral vision, can potentially be reversed. These disorders involve damage to the rods and cones, the light detecting receptors in the eye, for which no known treatment has been discovered; this method may be the first to cure damage to photoreceptors in the eye. This new treatment involves wearing goggles, on which a tiny video camera sits. The images the camera captures stream to a smart-phone-sized computer. The computer then projects the images through near-infrared lasers on the inside of the goggles, into the eyes. Instead of hitting ordinary rods and cones (which are damaged), the laser hits slender photovoltaic chips, which are the chips planted beneath the retina. These artificial chips then create a nerve signal which is sent to the brain, allowing the person to see. This method produces the highest resolution image to the patient of all methods used before; current testing is taking place with rats.
Losing eyesight is a major handicap to all people. Humans rely much more on their sense of sight than on any other sense. Losing the most important sense takes a significant chunk of an indivual's world from him; his life is permanently altered, and he feels as if he is completely disconnected from the outside world. This new method of treatment -- implanting photovoltaic chips beneath the retina of eyes -- has never been tested before, but is showing great potential. Although the image it produces is not perfectly clear, it has been making progress, and in the near future, it is possible that we may be able to find a reliable cure for blindness. All the thousands of blind people on earth can have their precious world returned to them.
Posting #4
Topic: Science
Title: Retinal Implants Could Restore Partial Vision
Author: Rachel Ehrenberg
Publication: Science News
Publication date: May 13, 2012
442 words
Scientists have found that it might be possigble to restore partial vision to people who suffer from blindness. This study implanted solar cell-like chips into rat retinas in order to improve vision, and found that the surgery required was relatively simple and uninvasive. The surgery hasn't yet been tested on humans, but scientists are optimistic based on their findings in rats. Such disorders as retinitis pigmentosa, which leads to night blindness and tunnel vision, and macular degeneration, which causes the loss of peripheral vision, can potentially be reversed. These disorders involve damage to the rods and cones, the light detecting receptors in the eye, for which no known treatment has been discovered; this method may be the first to cure damage to photoreceptors in the eye. This new treatment involves wearing goggles, on which a tiny video camera sits. The images the camera captures stream to a smart-phone-sized computer. The computer then projects the images through near-infrared lasers on the inside of the goggles, into the eyes. Instead of hitting ordinary rods and cones (which are damaged), the laser hits slender photovoltaic chips, which are the chips planted beneath the retina. These artificial chips then create a nerve signal which is sent to the brain, allowing the person to see. This method produces the highest resolution image to the patient of all methods used before; current testing is taking place with rats.
Losing eyesight is a major handicap to all people. Humans rely much more on their sense of sight than on any other sense. Losing the most important sense takes a significant chunk of an indivual's world from him; his life is permanently altered, and he feels as if he is completely disconnected from the outside world. This new method of treatment -- implanting photovoltaic chips beneath the retina of eyes -- has never been tested before, but is showing great potential. Although the image it produces is not perfectly clear, it has been making progress, and in the near future, it is possible that we may be able to find a reliable cure for blindness. All the thousands of blind people on earth can have their precious world returned to them.
I think its so cool that technology has advanced to the point where it can fix a previously unfix-able condition like blindness. The infrared laser goggles only require a phone sized computer, making the fix very convenient. To go through life without ever knowing what your friends look like or ever being able to see a sunset is unimaginable. I hope that this new technology will make it quickly through the rat testing phase and be a common procedure in hospitals everywhere
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