Blindness

These 3D-Printed Hubble Images Let Blind People See Outer Space

What does space feel like? I’m not talking about space itself—but rather the images we see in a telescope. Could you render those spectacular images into something that a blind person could experience? That’s exactly what a pair of astronomers are trying to figure out. Carol Christian and Antonella Nota, of the Space Telescope Science…

Space & Spaceflight Adam Clark Estes Jan 9

Your replacement retinas might look like this

For people going blind from retinal degeneration, there are almost no therapies. Their vision dims and they lose their sight as doctors look on helplessly. But a new experiment involving retinas grown from stem cells promises a new direction for research — and, in the future, a possible treatment. Photo of retinal neurons by Anai…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 22

The world that only formerly-blind people can see

They once were blind but now they see. Which begs the question — what exactly do people see when they gain sight for the first time? Often, it’s terrifying. What happens when people first really look at the world? Generally, we don’t know. They’re far too young to tell us what’s going on in their…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Apr 19

Crazy Brain Implants Give Lab Rats a Sixth Sense and Let Them “Touch” Light

It’s not every day that science and crazy brain implants lead to the generation of what is essentially a new sense, but it is that day today. Scientists from Duke University have found a way to make rats “feel” invisible infrared light and someday that same tech could give sight to the blind, or give…

Tech News Eric Limer Feb 14

Blind Mice Can See Again—and Maybe Blind Humans, Too

Some mice that once were blind can now see, thanks to a breakthrough from researchers at UC Berkley. And humans might not be far behind. There are two main causes of blindness—retinitis pigmentosa, which is genetic, and macular degeneration, an age-related problem your grandmother might have. Both ailments are related in that the retina’s rods…

Health Leslie Horn Jul 26

Tactile maps from an 1830s atlas for the blind

Braille wasn’t widely in use in the 1830s, but Samuel Gridley Howe, founder and president of the New England Institute for the Education of the Blind, wanted to develop an atlas that his students could read unaided by a seeing person. To that end, he created a specially embossed atlas that could be read by…

io9 Lauren Davis Jul 22

How to Temporarily Blind Yourself

Have you ever wondered what it might be like to be temporarily blind? Of course you have. In fact, there is a way to trick your body into becoming blind, at least for a few minutes. Writing on Mindhacks, Vaugn Bell—perhaps one of the best neuroscience writers around—explains the trick: “If you don’t believe me,…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe May 18

New device hacks into blind people’s visual cortex to let them “see”

This Sensory Substitution Device uses the camera to gather visual data and then uses a rather nifty computer algorithm to translates this data into sound. With a little practice, blind users can identify complex objects, and even read words. The invention is the invention of Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Dr. Amir Amedi, who you can…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Feb 9

Judging from this Japanese robot, the guide dogs of the future will resemble AT-AT walkers

You’re looking at the most recent prototype of Japanese robotics manufacturer NSK’s mechanical seeing-eye dog. This model uses Microsoft Kinect to navigate obstacles, and its creators are adding such features as voice recognition to prevent the robot from leading its master astray. Will future generations be dealing with these helper droids or the same trusty…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Nov 5

A Power Glove That Puts Your Seeing Eye Dog to Shame

Not that one should go around shaming seeing-eye dogs. But the Tacit haptic glove, designed by Steve Hoefer, is a little DIY project that fires sonar from the wrist, keeping a visually impaired individual aware of their surroundings. It’s basically an invisible cane. On steroids. [Technabob]

Gadgets Kwame Opam Aug 20

Drug Could Let The Hereditary Blind See

There’s a terrible hereditary eye disease called Leber’s hereditary optic neuropathy that affects men in their twenties. It’s a mitochondrial disease inherited from your mother that leads to total blindness within six months of onset. A recent breakthrough from a team of researchers at Newcastle University suggests this disease may be reversible in its early…

Tech News Kelly Jul 29

Mapping the Brains of Human Echolocators

Vision and hearing are generally regarded as two very different senses. Unless, of course, you can echolocate. Now, scientists have revealed for the first time that human echolocators — blind individuals who navigate their surroundings by producing mouth clicks and listening to the returning echoes — actually process these sounds in the regions of the…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Jun 3

This Is (Officially) the Best Illusion of the Year

It’s no David Copperfield, but in this day and age surely that’s a good thing? Winner of the Best Illusion of the Year contest, this moving circle of dots tricks the eye into seeing changing color even when they’re not. While you may not see it, the dots in the video above are always changing…

Tech News Kelly May 11

Scientists Grow an Eye in a Petri Dish

A Japanese research team has successfully grown a “rudimentary” mouse eye in a petri dish using stem cells. This has many implications for future research and curing blindness. Above is a time-lapse video of the stem sells spontaneously organizing into an “optic cup”—the precursor to an eye. Now they need to grow a little pair…

Tech News Adrian Chen Apr 7

The strange case of the man who went blind when he had sex

Sex can cause spikes in your heart rate, blood pressure, nervous system activity…and, for one poor soul, temporary blindness. Yes, that old wives’ tale about sexual gratification making people go blind has, at long last, been proven true…sort of. The ever awesome NCBI ROFL has the scoop on this strange case history: Our patient experienced…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Nov 28

What It’s Like to Have a High-Powered Laser Shot Into Your Eyeball

So the Wicked Laser was a letdown, but it’s still super dangerous, so that’s kind of cool, right? We wondered what it might be like to get Wicked lasered in the eyeball. So we shot one into a camera. Ouch. https://gizmodo.com/what-happened-to-wicked-lasers-spyder-iii-pro-arctic-la-5628925 Our poor little pocket HD cam couldn’t vocalize any feelings of intense pain or…

Tech News Sam Biddle Nov 5

Electronic Implant Allows The Blind To See

Researchers are currently testing electronic implants which are designed to restore sight to individuals with certain types of blindness. As you can see by this video, the initial trials are encouraging. Groups in Germany and the US have been testing electronic implants aimed at restoring vision to people with retinal dystrophy. The condition is hereditary…

Tech News Debora MacKenzie - NewScientist Nov 2

Sam Raimi directing a Day of the Triffids remake?

A new Day of the Triffids movie sounds like a dreadful idea — unless it’s true that Sam Raimi is directing. Raimi and Mandate Pictures paid seven figures for the film rights, so it sounds like he’s serious about this. According to Deadline, Raimi is really eager to direct this remake, because the original film…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders Oct 21

Restoring Sight With a Bionic Eye

Researchers in Australia have developed a “wide-view neurosimulator,” to help give sight back to the blind. By implanting electrodes in the eye, they’ll allow those with degenerative vision loss to see a pixelated version of the world around us. While the end result is similar to the BrainPort technology that lets the blind “see” through…

Tech News Brian Barrett Apr 5

A Blind Soldier’s Sight Restored Through His Tongue

Lance Corporal Craig Lundberg lost his sight to a rocket-propelled grenade in 2007. Now, thanks to a fascinating technology, he can read words and make out shapes using his tongue. It’s truly incredible. The remarkable sight-giving device is called the BrainPort, and while it was developed late last year, Lundberg is the first person to…

Tech News Brian Barrett Mar 18

These 3D-Printed Hubble Images Let Blind People See Outer Space

Your replacement retinas might look like this

The world that only formerly-blind people can see

Crazy Brain Implants Give Lab Rats a Sixth Sense and Let Them “Touch” Light

Blind Mice Can See Again—and Maybe Blind Humans, Too

Tactile maps from an 1830s atlas for the blind

How to Temporarily Blind Yourself

New device hacks into blind people’s visual cortex to let them “see”

Judging from this Japanese robot, the guide dogs of the future will resemble AT-AT walkers

A Power Glove That Puts Your Seeing Eye Dog to Shame

Drug Could Let The Hereditary Blind See

Mapping the Brains of Human Echolocators

This Is (Officially) the Best Illusion of the Year

Scientists Grow an Eye in a Petri Dish

The strange case of the man who went blind when he had sex

What It’s Like to Have a High-Powered Laser Shot Into Your Eyeball

Electronic Implant Allows The Blind To See

Sam Raimi directing a Day of the Triffids remake?

Restoring Sight With a Bionic Eye

A Blind Soldier’s Sight Restored Through His Tongue

Anthropic’s New Model Is So Scarily Powerful It Won’t Be Released, Anthropic Says

Musk Asks Court to Give Potential Winnings in OpenAI Suit to OpenAI’s Nonprofit

Pro-Iran Hackers Target Critical U.S. Energy and Water Infrastructure

‘She-Hulk’ Was Apparently One of Marvel’s Most Successful Shows

The World’s First Eye-Tracking Smart Glasses Are Intriguing and Unpolished

Noah Hawley Is Remaking ‘Terrified,’ Which Shouldn’t Happen

Unprecedented Observation Reveals 2 Supermassive Black Holes Locked in a Tight Death Spiral

This Apple MacBook Pro Is Now Under $500 After 78% Off, Grade-A Refurb Deal (16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, Touch Bar)

Aqara Thermostat Hub W200 Review: Almost Better than My Ecobee

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

Let us help find what you are looking for...