Bionic contact lens
Imprinted circuitry could one day create lenses that enhance your vision
Rachel Vincent
Issue date: 4/7/08 Section: Science
Watching any of the "futuristic" conceptual movies of the '50s and '60s would make anyone living in today's world laugh. While they predicted communities of people living on Venus and Mars and others vacationing on the Moon, no one guessed we would be carrying around music in a square the size of a stamp.
Science has taken some very interesting and unexpected leaps in the past few decades and has left our generation quite jaded in the process. We think nothing of electric cars, genetic engineering or artificial organs and limbs, since they have become so widely utilized and incorporated into society. Science and micro-technology have progressed so far that there are few things that spur us to say "impossible" anymore.
Case in point, a bionic contact lens. Tiny electronic circuits and wires embedded into a contact lens that would allow you to see in night vision, zoom in or out on whatever you are focusing on and improve your vision dramatically. It may sound like science fiction, but incredibly, scientists at the University of Washington have already created a prototype. The lens looks like a mini circuit board and will apparently be embedded with microelectronics and a wireless display.
The lenses have yet to be perfected. There is no current solution to power them. However, the fact that they have been developed to a wearable state is incredible enough. The technology will not only benefit those who want enhanced vision coupled with various displays reminiscent of the Terminator, but could also be utilized to aid those with impaired vision.
Scientists have long been toying with the concept of cameras hooked deep into the brain to grant vision to the blind. Preliminary experimentation has been done on monkeys with bionic eyeglasses hooked to electrodes. Now, with the advent of nano technology, this may very well be possible without having huge electrodes wired into their brain.
How is this possible? Nano technology is a fairly new and delicate field of science. Anyone with contact lenses knows that even the tiniest hair or speck of dust brings extreme discomfort. So how is it feasible that embedded wires won't be uncomfortable or, more importantly, block vision?
Science has taken some very interesting and unexpected leaps in the past few decades and has left our generation quite jaded in the process. We think nothing of electric cars, genetic engineering or artificial organs and limbs, since they have become so widely utilized and incorporated into society. Science and micro-technology have progressed so far that there are few things that spur us to say "impossible" anymore.
Case in point, a bionic contact lens. Tiny electronic circuits and wires embedded into a contact lens that would allow you to see in night vision, zoom in or out on whatever you are focusing on and improve your vision dramatically. It may sound like science fiction, but incredibly, scientists at the University of Washington have already created a prototype. The lens looks like a mini circuit board and will apparently be embedded with microelectronics and a wireless display.
The lenses have yet to be perfected. There is no current solution to power them. However, the fact that they have been developed to a wearable state is incredible enough. The technology will not only benefit those who want enhanced vision coupled with various displays reminiscent of the Terminator, but could also be utilized to aid those with impaired vision.
Scientists have long been toying with the concept of cameras hooked deep into the brain to grant vision to the blind. Preliminary experimentation has been done on monkeys with bionic eyeglasses hooked to electrodes. Now, with the advent of nano technology, this may very well be possible without having huge electrodes wired into their brain.
How is this possible? Nano technology is a fairly new and delicate field of science. Anyone with contact lenses knows that even the tiniest hair or speck of dust brings extreme discomfort. So how is it feasible that embedded wires won't be uncomfortable or, more importantly, block vision?
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