"Mom, I see the sun, I see an airplane, I see that building far away, the trees have leaves..." Elsa described in the car. The little girl was five years old at the time, but it was the first time she could see the world around her. Her mother, Roser Caro, explains that the child was born with corneal hypoplasia, a malformation that prevented her from having any sensation and from blinking. This caused her to progressively lose her vision, until she was left with only 10% of her sight. In January 2024, when she was five years old, the San Juan de Dios Hospital in Barcelona performed a pioneering pediatric operation on her, which not only prevented her from going completely blind but also allowed her to recover 10% of her vision.

Blind people currently have no treatment; they must learn to live with their condition and adapt to a new life in complete darkness. However, science has long been searching for ways to help blind people regain at least some vision and improve their quality of life, as fully restoring sight remains an unattainable goal for current research. One of the most promising therapies to combat blindness involves implanting electrodes in the brain and, through electrical stimulation, attempting to enable the person to perceive visual elements without seeing them. To put it simply, researchers studying this experimental technology are bypassing the eyes and acting directly on the area of the brain that processes vision. Following this premise, a team from the Miguel Hernández University (UMH) of Elche and the Alicante Hospital has developed an artificial vision system—a small array of electrodes—and tested it in a study with two blind people, with promising results. Specifically, participants recognized several complex patterns, movements, shapes, and even some letters, demonstrating that restoring partial vision to blind people may be feasible in the future. However, the researchers emphasize that this technology is still in its very early stages and many more studies, like the one published this Wednesday in the journal, are needed. Science Advances so that it becomes a real solution for blind people.

Maite has a 79% visual impairment and has been visiting the Cerdeña Primary Care Team (EAP) in the Horta-Guinardó district (Barcelona) for twenty-one years. In recent months, this center has launched a pioneering initiative in Catalonia: a comprehensive care protocol for blind or severely visually impaired people who care for me. "When I come in, someone is in charge of accompanying me wherever I go, whether in the consultation room or any other room. It's changed my life," explains Maite, who, despite having a certain degree of autonomy because she has always lived with blindness, assures that any help is welcome.

After removing the thorn from roll one thriller with Wild RouteMarc Recha (Hospitalet de Llobregat, 1970) has been able to make another dream come true: to shoot a film in the Poblet monastery, the first to be filmed entirely there. Centaurs of the night, which opens this Friday, is a black and white experiment – the photography is by Peter Zeitlinger, collaborator of Herzog and Ferrara – starring a cast of mostly blind actors, one of the most radical and free films by the director of Paz and her brother.