A device that can 'mimic the action of the front end circuitry of the retina' and send images directly to the brain is being pioneered by a Weill Medical College of Cornell University team.
View this excellent TEDMED talk by neuroscientist Sheila Nirenberg for more details.
(TEDMED talk)
Star Trek fans have been waiting for Geordi la Forge's VISOR (or something like it) to send images directly to the brains of people who have lost their sight.
(Geordi la Forge)
Update 27-Feb-2017: Take a look at the vision strip from Orphans of the Void (1952) by Orville Shaara.
End update.
From Daily Mail; thanks to Moira for sending the tip and the reference (thereby rousing me from my sickbed!).
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 12/28/2011)
Drug To Regenerate Teeth In Humans
'We want to do something to help those who are suffering from tooth loss or absence,' said lead researcher Katsu Takahashi.
Illustrating Classic Heinlein With AI
'Stasis, cold sleep, hibernation, hypothermia, reduced metabolism, call it what you will - the logistics-medicine research teams had found a way to stack people like cordwood and use them when needed.' - Robert Heinlein, 1956
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A System To Defeat AI Face Recognition
'...points and patches of light... sliding all over their faces in a programmed manner that had been designed to foil facial recognition systems.'
Smart TVs Are Listening!
'You had to live -- did live, from habit that became instinct -- in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard...'