A man walks out of a restaurant into the night and sees street lights and brightly lit shop windows. He’s so thrilled by the spectacle that he stands there for 10 minutes, just looking. The reason for his joy at such a mundane sight is the fact that he is normally totally blind. The man is one of nine patients to have been fitted with an Alpha IMS device, the latest retinal prosthesis that can restore sight to blind people. The image above is an X-ray of one of the patients, showing the implanted chip with wires running to it from the retina, with a dial behind the ear that can be used to adjust brightness. It is powered wirelessly via a battery in the pocket.
