A new artificial retina may prove to be a sight for blind eyes. A device firm called Second Sight is behind the product, which just earned approval in the EU (you know, where the public is used as guinea pigs).

A miniature video camera is mounted in a pair of glasses. A transmitter built into the glasses delivers the images to a chip implanted in the back of the damaged eye. The chip contains 60 electrodes that transport the image along the optic nerve straight to the brain.

According to CBS correspondent Jennifer Ashton, "This is a part of the eye in the back where light images are converted into nerve signals, and then transmitted to the brain. We're not talking about people who are born blind here, but for people suffering from macular degeneration or retinitis pigmentosa, which is what the father and daughter in this piece, has. Potentially this is very, very helpful."

Oh, and there has been another technological development for sufferers of retinitis pigmentosa, also involving medical electronics. Check it out here. Is it too early to call this an arms (eyes?) race? —Lawrence Lloyd