Scientists unveil "bionic eye."

Australia's The Age (4/23, Miller) reports that earlier this week, "British surgeons announced they had implanted the country's first rudimentary device in human patients using technology developed by Second Sight, a private Los Angeles-based company backed by investors and the U.S. government."

News-Medical.net (4/22) noted, "The bionic eye, which is called Argus II, works via the camera to transmit a wireless signal to an ultra-thin electronic receiver and electrode panel that are implanted in the eye and attached to the retina." In turn, the "electrodes stimulate the remaining retinal nerves, allowing a signal to be passed along the optic nerve to the brain." So far, the "trial is testing the bionic eye on people who have become blind through retinitis pigmentosa." To date, 15 patients have received "the artificial retinas as part of a three-year trial in the U.S., Mexico, and Europe."