Future of Prosthetics; Artificial Organ and Bionic Eye

 Last week a university in Melbourne successfully ran human trials for the bionic eye technology. In today's world prosthetics are becoming a common thing. Prosthetic arms and legs have proved very useful in improving the lives of people who are born with birth defects or lose a body part in an accident.  

Back in 2019 a US-based company successfully created the bionic eye or gennaris bionic vision system. This technology was on the next level as for the first time it was successfully helping blind people to see and differentiate between lightness and darkness. it works by bypassing the damaged optic nerves and allows the retina to transmit signals. Four 9mm tiles are implanted in the brain which receives these signals. This technology is very revolutionary as it can eradicate blindness permanently.

Today's prosthetics work with the help of an external computer device that receives signals from muscles and causes movement as per requirement. Though this works fine it is quite inefficient. Elon Musk's Neuralink company is developing a technology by which we can control prosthetics directly with our brain just like the original body parts. This requires a surgery whereby a neuralink chip will be implanted in the skull from which electrodes go to the brain. it's a pretty new technology and we have to wait a few years to use this technology.   

Bionic organs or artificial organs are human-made devices or artificially grown tissue that can replicate the original organs in case of organ failure. Many companies like Syncardia and Organovo are developing artificial hearts and kidneys. Artificial organs will play a significant role in increasing the life expectancy of humans as organ failure is a major cause of death. This technology sounds great but it has some big side effects and it's too expensive so only a few people can afford it. But, with further innovation and large scale commercialisation, its price will gradually drop. 

Thanks for Reading.