Researchers at the Harvards Medical School aim to construct a brain implant that can restore vision of blind persons.
The basic idea is to build a small digital camera that will feed images to an external signal processor worn by the patient. The processor will translate the image from the camera into neural impulses, then transmit them wirelessly to an implanted stimulator. The stimulator will drive a set of electrodes placed in the lateral geniculate nucleus of the brain to elicit images in the patient’s brain.
This artifact is still in the design phase or call it a “vision” if you want. Another “former vision” is on the way to become reality: practical holographic video system.
Credit: Greg Cherry via Universal Hologram
A team of MIT researchers has proposed a way to make a holographic video system that works with computer hardware for consumers, such as PCs with graphics cards and gaming consoles. The display, the researchers say, will be small enough to add to an entertainment center, provide resolution as good as a standard analog television, and cost only a couple hundred dollars.
Besides the possibility of amazing effects in gaming there are a couple of other areas of application: medical images of MRI and CT scans, stereoscopic videos or a vitual cooking advisor next to your stove for example. This list could be continued endlessly but prior to getting euphoric we have to wait for the next generation of the system because currently the image is still monocromatic and quite small.
