Brain Implant Helps Six People Gain Vision. Is This the Future?

Six people got their vision partially restored thanks to an implant that transmits video images to the brain.

Six people got their vision partially restored thanks to an implant that transmits video images directly to the brain, bypassing the eye.

How does it work? A video camera attached to glasses sends images back to electrodes implanted in the visual cortex of the brain, explains this article in The Guardian.

The study was carried out by specialists from Baylor Medical College in Texas and the University of California, Los Angeles.

Previous attempts to restore eyesight using a bionic eye were focused on implanting into the eye - which essentially required that you have a working optic nerve.