In case you think this article is taken out of a science fiction movie--think again! Good news are arriving for at least a segment of the blind people where a new chip restores eyesight with a retinal implant.
What makes retinal implant restoring eyesight electronically work? It is not the first time one of the human senses, at least partially, is restored with technology.
For years the hard of hearing have been blessed with devices which transform sound waves into electronic signals that are send directly into the hearing nerves.
Those signals are not identical to those received by the brain for people with normal hearing.
Thus a training period of a few years is required before the hearing impaired will actually be able to "make sense" out of the information received.
But the reward is so much greater when the training period is over.
In fact, the success rate for this device is so high that deaf schools in some countries reports a dramatic decline of student enrollment since most deaf children will eagerly accept the offer of such an operation with the vision of restoring a normal life.
The principle is the same for this new implant into the retina of the eye: the incoming light is transformed to electronic signals by a chip much the same as those we know from digital cameras, except that the number of pixels are not counted in the millions but is in the vicinity of 1500 pixels.
This will, obviously, not give a sharp and deep picture nor allowing any blind patients to qualify as fighter pilots in the air force.
Nevertheless, this makes a revolutionary difference for the blind--not only being able to sense large object and obstacles but even to distinguish letters of the alphabet.
It seems the mind has an ability to adapt to a new situation where signals, the like of which the brain has never "seen" before are sent into the optic nerve.
This adaptability of the human being has been proven decades ago with experiments, e.
g.
giving somebody glasses that renders the picture upside down.
In a couple of weeks the test person would experience this as normal eyesight.
Anyone who has gotten glasses for the first time will probably recall the first time going down the stairs as pretty hazardous but soon got back to "normal condition" as if nothing new had happened.