IFrom a medical point of view, the eye is a mirror not of the soul, but of the mind. The retina and optic nerve are extensions of nervous tissue. remarkable success The use of electronic implants to restore vision shows how far brain-computer interfaces have come. They haven't created a sci-fi vision of augmented people with incredible new abilities, but, perhaps more hearteningly, significant progress has been made in restoring ability and agency to those who have suffered from injury or disease.
People with age-related macular degeneration face a declining world. A disease that affects around 600,000 people in the UKcauses progressive loss of central vision. There is no cure, but new trials offer something else: a new way of looking at the situation.
Patients at several study sites across Europe, including Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, were equipped with surgically implanted microchip in their retina. The chip, with an area of only 4 mm and a thickness of 30 micrometers, serves as an image converter. Visual information recorded by the camera in the glasses is transmitted to the chip via infrared light, which the chip converts into electrical signals detected by the retina, restoring the lost connection between the eye and the brain. After a year, 84% of patients test for 38 people were able to read letters and numbers using the device after previously losing their vision, with an average improvement of about five lines on a standard vision test chart.
The boundary between mind and machine is shifting. Devices placed on the head to read brain waves have made it possible paralyzed people typing. Prosthetics are currently in the testing phase controlled using sensors placed on the muscles and nerves left after amputation, and can also transmit signals back, restoring the sense of touch and proprioception. Last year, Elon Musk's Neuralink venture implanted a chip in typically brutal fashion straight into the volunteer's brainwhich allows it to send basic commands to the computer.
The dangers must be obvious. The macular degeneration study involved 26 people. “adverse events”including retinal damage requiring further surgery. Go deeper into the brain and these risks multiply. Even so, the brain needs to be trained to read the signals—a reminder that these chips don't yet speak body language. (An AI algorithm was used to more clearly distinguish text from visual cues. This is a simple example of how AI's unique data processing and pattern recognition capabilities become truly useful.)
Cost and availability of any new medical technology is an issue. Prima device from test under consideration US Food and Drug Administration and EU regulators. A CE mark from the latter will allow Prima to be considered for the provision of NHS services. As with most prosthetic devices, it is the result of a partnership between government-funded medical researchers and a private biotech firm that handles whatever large-scale production is possible. In 2022 the National Health Service various multi-grippers approved prosthetic hands controlled by non-invasive electrodes that read muscle signals for widespread use – and have been reported costs approx. £13,000 to £37,000 per prosthesis plus additional maintenance costs over time. Prima and other devices currently in testing are a step forward—a direct fusion of advanced computer technology and the human nervous system. Few novels or films feature cyborgs simply throwing a ball or reading a newspaper, but this seems to be our future, and it is welcome.
