Blind Mice Given Sight After Device Cracks Retinal Code

Some good news, possibly, for millions of sight-impared people. This new breakthrough remarkably extends the ability to impart sight, using a "retinal code" and mathematics to embody a new understanding of how the brain and the eyes communicate. The use of mathematics and information to achieve the goal, rather than physcial technology alone, is also noteworthy.

Blind mice had their vision restored with a device that helped diseased retinas send signals to the brain, according to a study that may lead to new prosthetic technology for millions of sight-impaired people.

Current devices are limited in the aid they provide to people with degenerative diseases of the retina, the part of the eye that converts light into electrical impulses to the brain. In research described today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists cracked the code the retina uses to communicate with the brain.

Blind mice had their vision restored with a device that helped diseased retinas send signals to the brain. Above, a household mouse not part of the experiment. Photographer: Roger Jackman/Oxford Scientific
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The technology moves prosthetics beyond bright light and high-contrast recognition and may be adopted for human use within a year or two, said Sheila Nirenberg, a neuroscientist at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York and the study’s lead author.

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Fantastic Find

Interesting, as the article describes that this feat was accomplished by mimicking a mouse’s normal retina signaling pattern.

You could infer that if they were able to duplicate this mimicking process in Humans the blind may once again see! I wonder if this process could be applied to other neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s, What about motor neuron disease, which is essentially the lack of neurons firing, if you were able to mimic the signaling within the brain, in theory it could work?

Would the more developed Eye of a human make this process more complicated I wonder?

Sight is sometimes a sense we take for granted

S&F

Wow this could lead to enhanced vision for all of us. Imagine being able to see wavelengths not normaly visible to us!! for example - Night vision - Infrared - Ultraviolet etc.

Good find. S&F

Originally posted by VoidHawk
Wow this could lead to enhanced vision for all of us. Imagine being able to see wavelengths not normaly visible to us!! for example - Night vision - Infrared - Ultraviolet etc.

Good find. S&F

edit on 14-8-2012 by VoidHawk because: (no reason given)

Interesting idea.

Perhaps we could mimic the retinal signals of a OWL for better night vision or how about similar brain signals from a snake for some kind of thermal sensing.

This certainly seems to have thrown the door wide open. I remain a little reserved, to all the super human senses, but to help replace some vestige of sight is great!

reply to post by MDDoxs


Dunno if you ever heard of Tom Horn. But check this out. He talks about transhumanism and H+. Very interesting. Kind of freaky but very interesting.

reply to post by XLR8R


Great. Thanks very much for the video. I have something to watch tonight

I am somewhat familiar with transhumanism. Mostly that is very controversial, but what new paradigm shifting idea wouldn’t be

Originally posted by MDDoxs

Originally posted by VoidHawk
Wow this could lead to enhanced vision for all of us. Imagine being able to see wavelengths not normaly visible to us!! for example - Night vision - Infrared - Ultraviolet etc.

Good find. S&F

edit on 14-8-2012 by VoidHawk because: (no reason given)

Interesting idea.

Perhaps we could mimic the retinal signals of a OWL for better night vision or how about similar brain signals from a snake for some kind of thermal sensing.

This certainly seems to have thrown the door wide open. I remain a little reserved, to all the super human senses, but to help replace some vestige of sight is great!

I was thinking maybe very tiny camera's embeded into the skin around the eyes. If they've cracked the code then all they'd have to do is wire them in. Now suppose one of those camera's was also wifi enabled! You could have ATS 24/7

reply to post by VoidHawk


Cameras implanted in the skin seems a bit invasive, and the body may reject them. I am wondering if in particular cases the Retina still recieves and translates images, but is merely unable to transmit them to the brain, thats where this discovery comes in to replace the transmission process.

Perhaps a device that recieves signal from the still relatively function eye and directly trasmits to the opitcal processing portion of the brain.