A Light-Powered Retina Implant For the Blind 34
the_newsbeagle writes: In certain diseases of the retina, people lose function in the photoreceptor cells that respond to light and trigger a message to the brain. So engineers have designed various retina implants that do the job instead, including the Argus II system, which received the first FDA approval for an implanted visual prosthetic in 2013. But the Argus II only produces vision of about 20/1200. A new implant in the pipeline from Stanford University has already achieved 20/250 vision in rats, and is aiming at 20/120, which would be below the legal threshold for blindness. This implant is photovoltaic, so the same infrared light that beams an image of the world into the implanted chip also powers its electronics.
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Cardiology has nothing to do with this. Cardiology is about hearts, not eyes....
Re:Ratios? (Score:4, Informative)
20/20 basically means "A person can read at 20 feet with a person with generally good vision should be able to read at 20 feet." [eyecaretyler.com]
And 20/1200 basically means "A person can read at 20 feet with a person with generally good vision should be able to read at 1200 feet."
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The inches/feet ratio makes it harder to visualize.
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But that's a different measurement.
If someone is short sighted, they may not be able to focus on something 20 feet away.
They may have perfect vision at a distance of 4 inches.
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Pair reading. It's like, totally agile and stuff.
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They're not fractions. They represent a comparison against what "normal" healthy vision can see vs. what you can see at 20 feet. 20/20 means you can see normally. 20/120 means you can see at 20 feet as well as healthy eyes could see at 120 feet.
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Technically you just described a fraction. :P
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People don't care what you can see at 1 ft, they care what you see at 20 ft.
I prefer to read a book at 1 ft, you insensitive clod.
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I prefer to read my book at 304.8mm, in insensitive imperial clob
but the rats are on disability (Score:3)
Future visit to the eve doctor (Score:2)
Obligatory (Score:2)
*obligatory Apple reference*
brought to you by MomCorp (Score:2)
Is an ayePhone the same thing as an ayeayePhone? Does Charo have an ayayayPhone?
Solar? (Score:3)
Bah, unsustainable! Only Coal, Oil, and Natural Gas can supply the clean, affordable power Real Americans need to see.
Next they'll be wasting our tax dollars on wind, tidal, and hydro powered implants.
Technology helps (Score:2)
I'm very excited by new technology that can actually help the visually impaired.
I find it distressing how much effort and expense is put into measures supposedly for the benefit of the disabled but which are clearly for appearances, and which inconvenience the population at large, humiliate the disabled, and actually do little or nothing to help them achieve any greater degree of independence.
This, however, sounds awesome.
SuseLover (996311) wins. (Score:2)
Called by another poster on the self-powered camera story [slashdot.org] recently.
Suntan lotion (Score:2)
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Unfortunately the size of the photovoltaic coupled with the low efficiency means the rats will be requiring copious amounts of suntan lotion.
Have two ready for Roseanne. (Score:2)
I hope they can have two of these ready when Roseanne Barr does lose all of her central vision. There's just no justice in the world if she's the only one on the planet who doesn't have to look at her face.
wait for the recordable version... (Score:2)
Thought the fuss about "glassholes" was bad - we ain't seen nothing yet. Combine stuff like this with ability to record - possibly for assistance with memory problems - and replay through the eyes, or send elsewhere.
Might be interesting to see what the US cops do, probably forcibly confiscate and destroy people's eyes for looking at them funny...