Eye Fireworks

Ever since I was young, I've been fascinated by the colors I see when I close my eyes really tightly. When I would have trouble going to sleep, I would press my face down against my pillow and watch the patterns of light pulse and move, like clouds of electricity changing shape. Researching it in later years, I've learned it's called phosphene, the experience of seeing light without light actually entering the eye. In a basic sense, the photoreceptors in our eyes can respond to other things other than light -- in this case pressure.

Mine are mostly blue in color, with some spiraling shapes and little glowing electric snow.

Apparently some people see red, yellow, purple, pink, green, or even a kaleidoscope or snow of combined colors.

I've always wondered if blind people are just trapped in total darkness, or if they have any sensation of these clouds of electric colors.

There's a lot of research going on about how the visual cortex in our brain handles other stimuli, like pressure, magnetism, and electricity. Scientists working for the Boston Retinal Implant Project have even created a bionic eye. They implant a small chip behind the retina, and run this micro-thin wire to the optic nerve.

Then special eyeglasses have a battery-powered camera and transmitter which sends the images to the chip behind the retina. It doesn't provide total vision, but they say it can give blind patients a general sense of their surroundings and recognize faces and expressions.

Electric eyes to the rescue. Now onto bigger problems. Like bald robots.