I can't believe my eyes

Since the ongoing writers strike has halted new episodes of “Bionic Woman,” I know you’re all desperately seeking your fix of bionics. Luckily for us,* scientists at the University of Washington are developing the “bionic” contact lens, which could potentially show images (such as maps) to the wearer, according to National Geographic.

Essentially, the scientists created circuitry that is thinner than a human hair. These “nano-sized” pieces were placed in a liquid and poured over a special lens. The lens has differently shaped “pits,” and each pit corresponds to a certain piece of circuitry. The picture can explain it better than I can:



The first thing that stuck out to me about the photo was not the lens, but rather the strangeness of that eye. You see, I didn’t read the photo caption right away, so it took me longer than necessary to figure out the eye belongs to a rabbit.** And yes, I managed to overlook the abundance of fur also pictured in the photograph.

The biggest problem so far is that the contact may not work, as it appears that not one of the researchers put the contact in his or her own eye. So far, the only conclusion reached is that the rabbits “showed no signs of adverse effects” while wearing the lenses — whatever that means. In order to be useful to the human eye, the image would have to project itself in front of the wearer, as anyone with contacts can tell you that you can’t focus on something that is actually stuck to the lens.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the contact has reached that level of technology yet, although it may happen before the writers strike ends.***


*Who am I kidding: I didn’t watch it either.
**In my defense, the rabbit was identified in the last line of the caption.
***Really, how long is this going to last?