“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.”