Bionic Eyes: Engineers Create Contact Lenses With Integrated Circuitry (PHOTOS)

Engineers at the University of Washington have developed contact lenses with integrated circuitry. This achievement could lay the groundwork for the "bionic eye," and another element of science fiction will join the ranks of simple science:

According to Government Technology, engineers at the University of Washington have developed contact lenses with integrated circuitry. Although the lenses have only been tested on animals, researchers are working on having electronic lenses overlay a display over a person's visual field without impairing sight. Researchers hope that the lenses, once completed, will allow users to zoom in on distant objects and see useful facts. Future applications might allow drivers and pilots to see their direction and speed projected across their view or to surf the Web without a monitor. The circuit components would be powered by integrated solar cells and a wireless radio-frequency receiver.

Photos from Government Technology.

Comments

[AZTrueBlue]

06:53 PM on 11/11/2008

Is this what Palin and McCain used during the debate?

[SpinDown08]

03:53 PM on 11/11/2008

Wait..They have these already. They're called binoculars........

[forthepeople1]

03:17 PM on 11/11/2008

Special Opps and BIG BROTHER. Be careful

[sisterdebmac]

02:50 PM on 11/11/2008

I love how they always state mundane uses for these technologies, like saying it will allow "drivers and pilots to see their direction and speed projected across their view or to surf the Web without a monitor." Yeah, I really want drivers and pilots surfing the web whilst operating heavy machinery.

What with all this BS and doubletalk? Just say it. It is no doubt being funded at least in part by the government so that they can use it for military applications. Or to spy on us.

[patzguitar]

02:14 PM on 11/11/2008

WOW!

I have corneal transplants in both eyes, and being organic, there is always the rick of corneal failure. I have to take steroid eye drops to keep them from rejecting. Something like this would be a dream. I see a cool future............

P.S. I hear the point the previous person was making about animal research, and I'm not numb to it, but PETA is a bad example to use for anything. Many other, and much more respectable, animal rights organizations out there. People need to stop referencing PETA, who really seem to be a bad example. I am sorry animals are being hurt, I would never make light of that.

[cucumber]

04:08 PM on 11/11/2008

point taken, but the reason for posting that link is because it's to their video section...which functions as a clearinghouse for lots of whistelblower videos. There might be another site that does that as well, but petatv.com is pretty good for that use, even if you people don't prefer PETA the organization itself.

A couple years ago, the BUAV in europe did an undercover investigation of the international toxicology lab Covance. PETA had the video up on the web (and then there was an undercover at Covance in the US - search both, they're horrible, especially the German one, where you can see the sadistic workers punishing the monkeys for fighting their torture). They also have some In Defense of Animals whistleblower video up. And video from other groups and individuals.

[cucumber]

04:45 PM on 11/11/2008

Pardon me! I did not mean to write the phrase "you people" (which can never sound right). That was an editing misktake where I had originally typed "you," then edited to "people" and didn't remove the "you."

[ThomasMc]

02:07 PM on 11/11/2008

Wow, just imagine: they will eventually be able to beam advertising right into your eyeball 24/7, and there won't be a damned thing you can do about it !

[research]

03:45 PM on 11/11/2008

remove the contact.

[Connolly1916]

01:19 PM on 11/11/2008

FAR OUT!

[Krikkit]

01:12 PM on 11/11/2008

Gimmee!

[cucumber]

01:07 PM on 11/11/2008

"Vivisection is a social evil because if it advances human knowledge, it does so at the expense of human character." ~George Bernard Shaw

If people want this thing so desperately, they can test it on their own damn selves instead of keeping monkeys prisoners in cages for life, never seeing the light of day, taken out only to be expermented on. Animal researchers are the ancestors of Mengele.

Please see
http://www.petatv.com/viv.html

[DMGMD]

01:28 PM on 11/11/2008

As much as animal research may seem unethical to some, if it weren't for animal research many of the medical advances and drugs on the market would not be around. Period

[Coyote2]

02:08 PM on 11/11/2008

I suggest you face the argument presented:
That if you "want this thing so desperately, test it on your own damn selves."

[Coyote2]

02:08 PM on 11/11/2008

I suggest you face the argument presented:
That if you "want this thing so desperately, test it on your own d_amn selves."

[BaltimoreSteve]

12:48 PM on 11/11/2008

Will we be able to see our dreams?
Until the End of The World.

[moosha]

12:42 PM on 11/11/2008

Jamie Somers and Steve Austin - look out!

[dcarn2]

02:38 PM on 11/11/2008

da-da-da-da-da-da-da.....I just hear that when they move heh

[RightWingMarine]

11:35 AM on 11/11/2008

that is so cool.

[Puzes]

10:45 AM on 11/11/2008

speeches ...

[Puzes]

10:44 AM on 11/11/2008

And, politicians will be able to give speaches without obvious "teleprompters".

[Skygazer]

12:37 PM on 11/11/2008

Or even brains...

[dcarn2]

02:38 PM on 11/11/2008

Actually we've had one of those already.....his name was Bush....

[Chanel]

09:44 AM on 11/11/2008

IDK, what if somebody is standing behind you at the atm, could they ZOOM IN and see your information?

[qofdisks]

10:35 AM on 11/11/2008

If they were standing at an ATM, they could not afford to have them. Not to worry.

[Krikkit]

01:15 PM on 11/11/2008

At first... Of course, by the time they are affordable all the bugs will be worked out. I LOVE thinking of the rich as our guinnea pigs.

By the time they are affordable, you'll be doing your banking by RFID too, so I wouldn't worry about someone seeing your obsolete pin!

[Zofomofo]

01:17 PM on 11/11/2008

It could be a good investment for thieves. Thye could get a bank loan for the contacts and then go to work stealing atm info and pay it back in now time.