We've seen initiatives all over the globe created in an attempt to beat blindness, but researchers based at MIT are feeling fairly confident that their development is within a few years of being able to "restore partial sight to people who have slowly gone blind because of degenerative diseases of the retina." The bio-electronic implant, which is about the size of a pencil eraser, would actually sit behind the retina at the back of the eyeball, and images would be transmitted to the brain "via a connector the width of a human hair." As it stands, an FDA grant application is already in the works, and the scientists are hoping to have it implanted in an animal as early as this summer. Still, the solution only works for folks who "were once able to see and have partially intact optic nerve cells" -- those who were blind from birth or suffer from glaucoma are unfortunately ineligible for the procedure.

[Thanks, Rusty]

Canon's new CF-1 may not be as enthralling as the (hopefully) forthcoming 40D, but we're sure ophthalmologists and optometrists can certainly dig it. The firm's latest mydriatic digital retinal camera provides a 50-degree angle of view, a trio of imaging modes (color, fluorescein angiography, and red-free), and can produce "clear and detailed diagnostic images for immediate review" when attached to an EOS 30D DSLR. Additionally, this unit motorizes the processes of changing filters and adjusting the chin rest, and while we've no idea what this thing will run your eye care company, Canon claims that both the CF-1 and Retinal Imaging Control software are currently available for those in the market.

[Thanks, Nation]

Snappy retinal scanners have been in the works for some time, and now Panasonic is apparently hoping to hasten those annoying ID checks by enabling security personnel to confirm the true identity of a person walking through in just "two seconds." Additionally, this scanner does not require subjects to "focus on the equipment," packs "multiple two-megapixel cameras," and in case you couldn't guess, is being marketed towards airports and high-security office buildings. No word just yet on when these may be rolled out for public use, but anything (well, almost) that speeds up our traveling is smiled upon by us.

[Via TechDigest]

Although the mere mention of "retinal scanner" may get the blood boiling in privacy advocates, the latest such device out of MIT sports a much more innocent soul. Researchers at the school have reportedly developed a method to "scan the retina at record speeds of up to 236,000 lines per second, or ten-times faster than current technology." This process will allow doctors to snap "high detailed 3D images of the eye," which can be used to non-invasively spot ocular diseases such as diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, and age-related macular degeneration much earlier and more accurately. The process itself is dubbed optical coherence tomography (OCT), and while things seem to moving along as scheduled, it will still be "five years or more" before we see this thing commercialized.

[Via MedLaunches]

Years back, scientists at the University of Bonn reckoned a visual implant would cure blindness, but unfortunately, the results were less than positive. While many alternatives have surfaced in the meantime, gurus at the institution are hitting back yet again with another option of their own, as the researchers introduced a software system that enables visual prosthesis to "learn" how to interpret sights in a way that the brain can understand -- something the original implementation had difficultly accomplishing. Essentially, an artificial retina "must learn to generate signals that are useful for the brain," and while the group's software should assist users with "flexible" central visual systems to garner new abilities in sight, they warn against "expecting miracles" too soon.

[Via MedGadget]

Okay, so it's more like the US government wanting to snag shots of your eyeballs sans your knowledge, but still, Sarnoff Corporation (yet another New Jersey firm interested in ocular studies) has recently filed a patent application that spells out a snazzy method of quickly photographing a helpless individual's facial region multiple times in order to (hopefully) capture one solid look at the iris. This newfangled manner of jacking biometrics from clueless pedestrians is actually being requested by the American government, as it apparently hopes to use it to run constant background checks with the information on file in order to peg a threat as they're strolling through. The device is slated to beam a "powerful, infrared strobe light" onto the subjects' faces, which syncs up with the camera exposures and creates a bank of hopeful photos for each individual, presumably chewing through terabytes of hard drive space in the process. Regardless, even this tactical approach probably won't be effective for long -- you know, considering every potential baddie now knows to rock the welder's glasses from here on out.

[Via ]

Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania have developed a new silicon chip that could be "embedded directly into the eye and connected to the nerves that carry signals to the brain's visual cortex," reports New Scientist. The chip aims to help people suffering from retinitis pigmentosa, which is the gradual death of one's retinal cells, those really useful bits of organic matter that convert light into nerve impulses for the brain to process. Previous attempts at solving this biological conundrum have often gone the route of using a video camera usually connected to a tiny computer to process the signal, which is then attached to the optic nerve. If Penn's research works, it would let this chip be directly implanted into the eye -- with a direct connection to the optic nerve -- removing the need for an external camera. Even better, this new version also mimics the way a healthy retina adjusts to light intensity, contrast, and even movement. The next step is to reducing the size and power consumption of the chip before clinical trials can get going.

[Via New Scientist]