New hope for the blind from neuroscientists?

Scientists in the Texas Medical Center believe that there may be a way to use mental images to help some of the estimated 39 million people worldwide who are blind.

Scientists in the laboratories of Michael Beauchamp, Ph.D., an associate professor of neurobiology and anatomy at the The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical School, and Daniel Yoshor, M.D., an associate professor of neurosurgery and neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine, have discovered a neural mechanism for conscious perception that could use the brain’s image-generating ability.

“While much work remains to be done, the possibilities are exciting,” said Beauchamp, the study’s lead author. “If successful, we would in essence bypass eyes that no longer work and stimulate the brain to generate mental images. This type of device is known as a visual prosthetic.”