Great news....as long as thats all it does :)

A miracle cure! Aye right.

There should be a law against miracle cure stories until there is evidence of real people benefitting from it.

Not just trials but real people using it.

Saw this on TV News last night. Fantastic! Star Trek; The Next Generation's, Geordi la Forge's 24th century VISOR (.... a device used by the blind to artificially provide them with a sense of sight. The device scans the electromagnetic spectrum, creating visual input, and transmits it into the brain of the wearer via the optic nerves. It is a thin, curved device, with the sensors on the convex side, that covers the eyes and attaches at small input jacks implanted in the temples) is getting closer.

#1. Are you concerned about the user getting the visual powers of Superman??? Telescopic / Microscopic / Heat / X-ray, etc etc??

I really don't think we're gonna see that develop for a few hundred years yet!

This is brilliant news for people who have lost their sight. It will give them a whole new lease of life. Hopefully the costs will come down, and further research will improve the device even more.

As someone who was temporarily blind for about a year, I know what it is like to lose your sight. So, more power to the people involved in this development.

Fantastic! I hope it does work and will become commercially viable soon.

When will they invent an implant to cure baldness?

Comment@3 Scaramouche, morning mate :)
Tesla realised that by manipulating energy frequencies, you could also manipulate mood and thought processes......Try typing in something like ...frequencies and mind control.
As i said earlier, sounds a great idea....as long as thats all it does :)

Gnasher ther IS evidence of real people seeing things - read the article.

This is magnificent. It will make lives better for 100s of thousands of people.

Let us hope the Luddites do not get judges to insist it not be used until all the Luddites have approved. I don't doubt the technical possibility of having it in 2 years any more than I doubt the ability of science to produce GM rice that solves protein deficiency but we have long experience of government spending years sitting on such things.

Great news for blind people, but why have they had to wait so long? when similar technology has been used to rob people of their privacy, by transmitting the vision of a sighted person to a remote receiver since the late 1990's. Towards an Artificial Eye was published by the IEEE in 1996

http://www.notafreemason.com/content2-04.html

Sorry folk, but using the gift of second sight bestowed upon 60m Brits by bitter experience, I have already forseen that the accountants will find that the cost of this treatment exceeds that of a white stick and five years supply of Pedigree Chum so all you blind folks can just stay in the dark.

And they call this civilisation. Well it sucks.

Have had laser surgery in both eyes and have consierable scar tissue.
Would volunteer for using the system if it shows some promise of success.
I see well enough to use computer with aid of program "ZoomText 9.0".

Will this implant be successful in cases of diabetic retinopathy and resulting blindness due to retinal detachment

#11 The electrode stimulates existing ganglion cells (nerve cells) which transmit information from the retina. It's therefore ideal for people who have intact ganglion cells, but damaged or lost light-sensitive cells of the retina (rods and cones).

This prosthesis isn't directly aimed at those with diabetic retinopathy. For them it depends on the degree of ganglion cell damage, which, given the complicated nature of the diabetic eye, could be fairly major. Also, when rods and cones are destroyed, the understimulated ganglion cells slowly degenerate. This means the prosthesis would be less likely to work in more advanced retinopathy. There's also optic nerve damage to consider.

As far as I know, though, there is a chance.

#2 Why do you think the Argus trial isn't real evidence? What isn't real about the participants?