Scientists at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience (NIN), Amsterdam, have created a brain implant that could restore some vision in blind people (see video).
The team developed high-resolution implants and then inserted these into the visual cortex – the part of the brain that processes visual information - of two sighted monkeys.
The results, published in Science, show that these implants make it possible to recognise artificially induced images.
“In the future, such technology could be used for the restoration of low vision in blind people who have suffered injury, or degeneration of the retina, eye, or optic nerve, but whose visual cortex remains intact,” said NIN researcher Xing Chen.
This project was funded by the Human Brain Project (HBP), and the future implants design for humans will benefit from the brain detailed map developed by HBP.