World's First Bionic Eye

Superman has X-ray vision. The Six Million Dollar Man could see for miles. Cyclops, one of the X-Men, can produce optic blasts from his eyes, sending bad guys into oblivion as quick as a wink.

Now, real-world scientists have developed a bionic eye (actually a retina) that can restore partial sight to the blind. While the implant can't restore full vision, most of the patients involved in a clinical trial can identify the direction of moving objects.

According to an article in ScienceDaily, the new bionic retina really is both effective and very cool. Here's how it works: "Each participant was given a pair of glasses with a small video camera mounted on it, and a belt with a tiny computer attached. The computer processed video images from the camera and transmitted the data to the implanted electrodes on the retina. When the users 'looked' at a monitor with a white bar sweeping across a black screen, the electrodes that corresponded with the moving bar stimulated cells in the eye, creating spots of light in their fields of vision."

Granted researchers haven't managed to reverse blindness, but they've taken an impressive step forward. It may be a while yet, though, before we're actually able to see through walls.

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