Human Body: Pushing the Limits Page #3

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there's something on the couch.

l'm not sure what it was.

Requesting backup!

We have a saying --

When in doubt' check it out'

and that's what l did.

Give me a hand!

l got a victim!

Get the gurney in here, guys.

NARRATOR:
Dan Fleming has used

his brain's visual memory

to transform a blur

into the outline of a body,

saving a man's life.

The power of human sight

comes from millions of years

of evolution.

We can't even understand it.

And technology today can't begin

to match the sophistication

of our incredible eyes.

But for the first time,

science is pushing human vision

to new limits

by connecting directly

with the brain's vision center.

This means that one day,

we might even see

in the invisible worlds

of infrared, have X-ray vision,

or plug video games

straight into the brain.

Cheri Robertson from Missouri

is about to step

into this virtual world.

l was in a car accident

when l was 1 9 years old.

l was a passenger in the car.

And the driver fell asleep at

the wheel, and we hit head-on

with a small truck'

and both of my eyes

were just destroyed.

NARRATOR:

Hoping to regain her sight'

Cheri volunteers

for a pioneering procedure.

lt involves marrying technology

to the huge processing power

of the brain's visual cortex.

lt was a chance for me

to be able to see again

when the doctors had always told

me l would never see anything.

NARRATOR:
Cheri is about to have

an extraordinary experience.

Doctors drill through both sides

of her skull,

exposing her brain.

Then they implant

two triangular plates,

each holding

directly onto Cheri's

visual cortex.

Finally, the surgeons

string cables

from the plates to terminals

sticking out of her skull.

Next' the electrodes run

through a computer

to a camera

on Cheri's eyeglasses.

All of this technology

is designed

to help Cheri regain some sight.

ROBERTSON:
lt was, l guess,

quite a shock for me

when l felt my head

and l felt these terminals

sticking out behind my head.

'Cause l guess

l really wasn't expecting that.

NARRATOR:
But for her to see

what the camera sees,

many things have to happen.

And that requires a step

into the unknown.

Each electrode touches a

different part of Cheri's brain.

When the system triggers

an electrode,

she sees a flash somewhere

in her visual field.

Where, the doctors don't know.

Now.

NARRATOR:
So they trigger

each electrode one by one

to learn where in her visual

field Cheri sees flashes.

MAN:
Now.

ROBERTSON:
Oh, wow.

That was right there.

Okay.

NARRATOR:

When she sees a flash,

Cheri points to top, bottom,

left' or right.

[ Beeping ]

With every electrode mapped,

the doctors connect the camera'

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