Original version

BBC World Service

BBC World Service Radio

World Service Radio

Health Check

Factual: Health & Wellbeing

Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

Health issues and medical breakthroughs from around the world.

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC World Service South Asia

Health Check: Bionic Bodies for Superhuman Powers?

Magazines & Reviews

Bionic-hand.jpg

2017/01/04 GMT

Bionic Bodies for Superhuman Powers?

BBC World Service - Health Check, Bionic Bodies for Superhuman Powers?

How advances in bionics is enhancing the human body, including a bionic eye for the blind

How advances in bionics is enhancing the human body, including a bionic eye for the blind.

The field of bionics has transformed medicine for centuries, as far back as the ancient Egyptians who created bespoke toes from wood and leather. During the 20th Century mechanical and electronic advances made heart pacemakers and more sophisticated prosthetic limbs possible. 

Now, researchers are creating bionic eyes to help blind people see again. Neurosurgeon Jeffrey Rosenfeld, director of the Monash Institute of Medical Engineering in Australia, hopes to implant tiny “ceramic micro-electrode tiles” into the brain’s visual cortex of blind volunteers this year – bypassing the normal visual pathway. A digital camera mounted on a pair of glasses captures images which are then processed in a device about the size of a mobile phone. The resulting image is then transferred wirelessly to the tiles in the brain – the more tiles, the more detailed the image. 

Such techniques designed to help people with disabilities could also be adopted by others wanting to enhance their own senses or performance. Anders Sandberg, senior researcher at the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University, ponders over the ethics of bionics. He supports morphological freedom – the right to modify our bodies – but also the right to say no. 

(Photo: Bionic hand. Credit: Mark Runnacles/GettyImages)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Health Check

Bionic Bodies for Superhuman Powers?

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service

About BBC World Service