IGHT SAVER

his bionic eyeball might look like it's been plucked from the skull of a movie
idroid, but it's really a symbol of hope for millions of people with retinal disease
nd age-related macular degeneration, two major causes of blindness.The inven-
on works like this: A tiny camera, attached to a pair of glasses worn by the patient,
athers images much as a real eye would, then transmits them wirelessly to a tita-
ium-encased microchip on the eyeball. The chip stimulates retinal nerve cells,
(hich then send pictures along the optic nerve to the brain. "The implant can't
estore full vision," says coinventor John Wyatt, PhD,
n engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of
echnology, "but our goal is to provide __^
nough that a patient can walk down ^^
i familiar street without a
ane or a guide dog."
le's aiming for FDA
pproval within
hree years.