"Retinal implants" are devices that are placed in the eye to help people with vision problems. They work by replacing damaged parts of the retina with artificial components that can stimulate the optic nerve, allowing the brain to interpret visual information."
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But not only are they real, they keep improving: A new technique has the potential to help patients
with retinal implants see better, indoors and out.
«This energy saving opens up a world of new possibilities for surveillance and other uses, from robots and drones to the next generation
of retinal implants,» she said.
The material the group was working with
for retinal implants was a hydrogel called PNIPAM, poly (N - isopropylacrylamide), which had a unique attribute that made it a natural fit for this application: When cooled, the hydrogel became a liquid for easy application, and when heated, it became a viscous semi-solid with strong adhesion.
Creating neuro - prosthetic devices such
as retinal implants is tricky because biological tissue doesn't mix well with electronics — but it might mix with organic semiconductors.
Currently
used retinal implants feature electrode shapes based on traditional Euclidean geometry such as squares.
Miss Restrepo - Schild added: «The human eye is incredibly sensitive, which is why foreign bodies like
metal retinal implants can be so damaging, leading to inflammation and / or scaring.
The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, shows that unlike existing
artificial retinal implants, the cell - cultures are created from natural, biodegradable materials and do not contain foreign bodies or living entities.
A handful of other teams, in Germany, Australia and elsewhere in America, have begun to
develop retinal implants as well, though currently none of the devices is in a U.S. clinical trial.
MITs got a new machine in the works that will offer some discrete seeing abilities to the 1.3 million legally blind in the US without the need for
invasive retinal implants.
Cochlear implants for hearing are quite sophisticated now, and we're just at the beginning
with retinal implants.
Second Sight, a start - up in Sylmar, California, is working on
a retinal implant that takes the image from a tiny camera and relays it to the back of the eye.
Such devices include cochlear implants that have enabled thousands of previously deaf people to hear again and, more recently,
retinal implants that return sight to the blind.
The success of the first clinical studies and the speed at which technology is improving suggest that
retinal implants could be more widely available in just a few years.
Now another team has given sight to blind rabbits by stimulating the back of their eyes with an electric probe, showing that
a retinal implant — a light - sensitive «vision chip» — could work.
The Argus II retinal prosthesis is a system in which a miniature video camera is housed in the subject's glasses and sends information to a patient - worn video processing unit where the image captured by the camera is processed into instructions which are then transmitted wirelessly to
a retinal implant fitted with 60 electrodes.
Computer simulations of electrical charges sent to
retinal implants based on fractal geometry have University of Oregon researchers moving forward with their eyes focused on biological testing.
Pursuit of a fractal - based
retinal implant is covered under a U.S. patent, which applies to any fractal - inspired device designed for biomedical purposes.
CYBORGS have walked among us for many years: humans fused with devices such as pacemakers, prosthetics and cochlear and
retinal implants.
«When the Department of Defense asked the scientific community to develop novel approaches to treating ocular injuries, we immediately thought of an advanced material we had previously worked with as a possible adhesive for
a retinal implant.»
Coburn's report, prepared over several months, credits NSF with making several «worthwhile investments,» including research that helped develop the Internet, magnetic resonance imaging, buckyballs, bar codes, and
retinal implants.
Los Angeles, CA (Scicasts)-- Physicians and researchers at the USC Roski Eye Institute have collaborated with other California institutions to show that a first - in - kind stem cell - based
retinal implant is feasible for...
In contrast, what the national labs do is build instruments that work reliably — whether it's a particle accelerator at CERN or
a retinal implant to help a blind person see.
Hamish Meffin, Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at The University of Melbourne and Bionic Vision Australia, «
Retinal Implants: Patient Results, Future Directions» - August 2014