ANDRZEJ KRAUZETo give a blind man an image / is to give something so tenuous it can be infinite / something so vague it can be the universe.” Literary giant Jorge Luis Borges penned these lines in a poem toward the end of his life, and he knew whereof he spoke, having gone completely blind when he was 55 years old after suffering from progressive vision loss beginning in his 30s. Borges lived for 31 years in total darkness.
Devoted to vision and the researchers who study it, this issue continues our annual in-depth consideration of one of the senses. So far, we’ve covered taste (2011), touch (2012), and smell (2013). Several of the articles deal with research aimed at actually giving “a blind man an image.” In “The Bionic Eye,” four different groups of scientists explain how, from tenuous beginnings, they are refining prostheses for implantation at different locations, from particular layers in and around the retina to the brain. The descriptions of the devices, a number of them already approved or in clinical trials, are fascinating, and ongoing progress in miniaturization and design offer new hope for restoring some level of sight to the blind.
In “Eyes on the Prize,” Jeffrey Perkel ...
