no they dont see thro the tongue....they have a very high power video camera hooked up to thier heads then thats wired back into a laptop that its taking down the picture and breaking it down it to a series of pulses..the person has an electrode covering thier tongue and theres thousands of different points on it..the person is taught how to translate the puleses of electricity on thier tongues into a mental picture of whats infront of them..

I saw this working on a blind guy and he navigated a corridor full of obsticles with no problems at all..The reporter who isnt blind then tested it out on different cards put infront of him..after a while his brain like the blind persons one translated the pulses on the tongue into a very crude picture.

This is an amazing thought..the brain is rewiring itself!!!
They also showed CAT scans of a seeing persons brain and pointed out the areas in the brain that are linked with vision..then showed a blind persons..it was all dark and dead in that region of the brain..then they showed someone blind using this thing and the vision area of the brain kicked into life and there was activity there when previously none!!

At the moment the person is limited to a usb connection to a powerfull laptop and camera..soon they hope tto make into a pocket size device strictly for the job so maybe a set of glasses with two cameras built in with a wire to a small pocket pc in the pocket.

I hope they can pull this off!! imagine what it could do for those poor unfortunate blind ppl

Wow My skull will have a camera attached to it, that would make for good conversation and stuff. Of course After reading the rest and not looking at the wacky pictures. Of course would their really be a market for this though, of course they never mention the price tag and the fact if it will or will not be covered for insurance. Which I doubt it will since replacements parts oculd get expensive as well.

It's a great step but due to the greed of the FDA (Federal Drug Administration) they will rely on the usually treatments for the blind to make their big money.

i disagree if a scientist could somehow end up findin out how to transmit the information (of what the camera sees) in a way that the brain understands it could be quite possible, except that having a camera in your toungue is not very logical, because

a) The Camera would be in your mouth, so, in order to see you would have to open your mouth
what heppens when you eat? you would only see some multicolored sludge
c) dehydration- taking a nice cold drink of water might shortcircuit the camera.

I don't think your brain sends messages to your eye to see. My interpretation is that the eye collects input and your brain receives that input and then interprets it. The only message going to your eye would be nerves telling your eye how to move. I might be wrong?

Even if it is true how would it be useful? Whenever you want to see something you would have to poke out your tounge wouldn't you? When you are eating you would see the food in your mouth and that would be a bit yuck.