XPost: alt.health, alt.science

https://phys.org/news/2025-06-retinal-prosthesis-woven-tellurium-nanowires.html

A team from Fudan University, the Shanghai Institute of
Technical Physics, the Beijing University of Posts
and Telecommunications and Shaoxin Laboratory, all in
China, has developed a retinal prosthesis woven from
metal nanowires that partially restored vision in
blind mice.

In their paper published in the journal Science, the
group describes how they created tellurium nanowires
and interlaced them to create a retinal prosthesis.
Eduardo Fernández, with University Miguel Hernández,
in Spain, has published a Perspective piece in the
same journal issue

The work involved fabricating nanowires out of
tellurium and then interlacing them to form a mesh.
Tellurium was chosen for the project because it can
directly convert light energy into electrical energy
under light irradiation without the need for an
additional power supply. The electrical energy
produced was then funneled to the optic nerve where
it was processed by the brain.

Testing involved implanting the nanoprostheses in
the eyes of mice with bioengineered blindness. To
test the effectiveness of the implants, the research
team conducted imaging and electrophysiological
recording of the nerves leading into the optic nerves
and signals that were carried to the brain and found
activity not present in a control group. They also
found that the implants resulted in restored pupil
reflexes along with neuron firing, which were also
not present in a control group. The implanted mice
were also able to turn toward an LED light and to
respond to pattern testing.

The prosthesis also allowed for processing near-infrared
light

. . .

Ok, VERY clever - use a photovoltaic material for
the implant so no external power is required.

There was no mention of the visual RESOLUTION alas,
but this WAS just a first-stage experiment. Also
not sure how bio-compatible tellurium may be.

There may be more than one good material for this
sort of approach. Today's nano-fab technology can
make a lot feasible. P-N silicon 'hot dogs', little
rods, that can be directly stuck into the retinal
area COULD also work.

"2K" rez vision would be maybe the first really
practical goal. That would be good enough to
do many things, maybe even driving a car if
enough peripheral vision can be restored or
still exists.

Various kinds of 'stick-in' implants - mostly
resembling a little circuit-board - have been
attempted but the resolution is horrible and
the whole assembly rather bulky. An impact to
the head would likely tear those free.

Note that while electronic vision may come first,
the idea here will be that it does not cause
insurmountable damage should a biological
regeneration technique be found. If retinal
rods and cones can grow in the first place
they can probably be induced to grow again.

Finally, AS important as the light receptors is
the complex, evolutionary hyper-tuned networks
of nerves just behind the receptors. The eye
really is more an extension of the brain than
a remote organ ... the pre-processing within
an eye is critical.

Anyone who has fooled around
with machine vision knows that "seeing" is NOT
straightforward, that computers see images as
very featureless. It's the post-processing steps
that bring edges and shading and movement alive.
Sub-retinal neural nets, the optic nerve and
other post-processing steps are what allow us
to really "see" all nice, sharp and sensible.

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