Scientists have found a way to make the blind see

Blind people may get a chance to “regain their sight. This will be possible thanks to a new development of scientists, writes EurekAlert.

Specialists have invented a retinal implant with 10.5 thousand electrodes, which will help the blind navigate in space. Of course, the development will not return vision completely, but blind people will be able to see points that form silhouettes of objects, and after training – to recognize specific objects.

The implant is about 1 cm wide and will be placed directly on the retina. The mechanism is this – the camera built into the smart glasses captures images in the person’s field of view, sends the data to a microcomputer in the glasses, and then the program converts the data into light signals and transmits them to the electrodes in the implant that stimulate the retina. As a result, the person sees a simplified black and white picture scheme.

According to the scientists, for people with artificial eyesight the world will be like the night sky – by connecting the star dots they will be able to see constellations. The location of the dots will change in real time along with the objects in the field of view – it covers 45 degrees.

So far, this technology has not been tested on humans, but scientists are ready to start clinical trials.