Surprising Science — November 3, 2010

Revolutionary Retina Implant

A revolutionary surgery has helped three blind patients to see following the implantation of an artificial retina. The operation brings hope to thousands of blind people.

bigthinkeditor

“The two men and a woman could distinguish shapes and objects days after the experimental treatment which involved placing an electronic chip at the back of the eye. The development is a significant advance on previous attempts to produce a bionic eye, which have relied on a camera and transmitter fitted to a pair of glasses to transmit images to the artificial retina. The new technique relies on the eye itself to transmit the images. One of the men, 44-year-old Mikka Terho from Finland, was able to identify objects such as a banana and distinguish between a fork, knife and spoon.”

a computer generated image of a human brain.

Thinking

The great free will debate featuring Michio Kaku and Steven Pinker

Who — or what — really controls your mind?

Building destroyed by the Halifax Explosion. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The Past

The largest accidental explosion of all time

More than a century ago, Halifax suffered an accidental blast one-fifth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

a collage of photos of a man with a hat and a book.

High Culture

6 great books with wildly unreliable narrators

Dive into the twisted truths and concealed realities told by literature’s most unreliable narrators.

a group of five matches on a pink background.

The Well

Signs you’re burned out — and how to bounce back

If you don’t feel better after the weekend, the “burnout paradox” could explain why.

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7 min

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with

Laurie Santos

Starts With A Bang

The trick to instantly identifying JWST images

If you can identify a foreground star, the spike patterns are a dead giveaway as to whether it’s a JWST image or any other observatory.

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Surprising Science

Darwin and Human Uniqueness

Professor of evolutionary paleobiology at the University of Cambridge, Simon Morris says one of Darwin’s detractors still raises interesting questions about human uniqueness.