[beaversmom]

Really cool.

[Flick Lives]

Doctors at the University of California Los Angeles are awaiting permission from US regulators to connect the system to a camera, worn in a pair of glasses, which they hope will send moving images directly to the brain.

[generally]

Experiments from years ago showed similar results. People have been able to “see” through their tongues and the skin on their backs. The brain doesn’t require an “eye” to see. It just requires the input from the eye. If you can produce that input (from a camera, for example), and get it the signal to the visual part of the brain (via nerves on your back or tongue, for example), your brain will see.

Someone who has previously been able to see but has lost the ability already has the neurons in place to process visual information. Someone who has never had sight, might not be able to see, or at the very least would have to “learn” to process the visual information. Most of us learn to do that during infancy.