For a long time, it seemed like the stuff of science fiction.

But with companies like Neuralink pioneering brain chips, and volunteers allowing the companies to plant the experimental technologies directly into their bodies, brain-computer interface technology is becoming a reality.

And it’s not quite as scary as it sounds.

In fact, these biotech companies are having frequent breakthroughs that are helping to change the lives of patients with disabilities across the globe.

For those with vision loss, new chip ‘Prima’ from a startup called Science Corporation, could be the answer to restoring their sight, with clinical trials looking hopeful even at their early stage.

Launched by a cofounder of Neuralink, Science Corp has been hard at work on creating retina implants. And their clinical trials, which involved legally blind patients, are impressing scientists and eye specialists across the world.

‘Prima’, their chip, is surgically implanted directly under the retina. The chip is photovoltaic, and works together with a purpose-built pair of glasses.

When the legally blind patients wore the glasses, after having the chip inserted in their eyes, the camera on the glasses projected data to the eye chip. The infrared light that sends the signals from the camera on the glasses to the retina chip also stimulates vital retinal neurons, sending information to the patient’s brain.

And, according to a statement from Max Hodak, CEO of Science Corp, the results were impressive. With the use of the photovoltaic chip and glasses, the patients were able to read books and even make out different faces:

“To my knowledge, this is the first time that restoration of the ability to fluently read has ever been definitively shown in blind patients.”

For those who volunteered in the project, the ability to read and perceived the faces of loved ones once more must be astonishing.

Though the chip is far from being rolled out as standard to patients with vision loss, the future for those with visual impairments is looking more and more promising.

The study, which involved 38 patients with age-related macular degeneration (meaning that they were older people who had lost their vision as they aged), showed variable but largely positive results.

Sure, they didn’t return to 20/20 vision, but by the end of the trial the volunteers’ vision averaged at 20/160 – which for someone who once was registered legally blind, is a gamechanger.

In the best case scenario, volunteers were able to read long passages of text, while others were only able to read some letters. Of course, not every patient saw success, with five of the 38 volunteers having no change in their vision.

But that’s still over 80% of once blind people who got at least some of their vision back.

And that extra vision could be life-changing.

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