Smarter eEyes Focus on Cure for Blind - Technology For Change

Smarter eEyes Focus on Cure for Blind - Technology For Change: However, new research efforts are developing a technique that starts with a metallic seed that then grows all the repeated branching structures that in turn mate to the optic nerve behind the eye, thereby delivering to the brain the same kind of signals as retinal neurons.
The specific algorithm harnessed by the technique is called "diffusion limited aggregation," which researchers are using to grow image sensor interconnections that mimic a natural neural topology before being surgically implanted and interfaced to the optic nerve.

'Seeding' the next generation of smart materials

'Seeding' the next generation of smart materials: MOFs consist of well-ordered ultra-porous crystals which form multi-dimensional structures with enormous surface areas. One gram of the material can have the surface area of more than three football fields...
“We have discovered that the MOF crystals grow in a completely ordered and predictable way once we introduce ceramic spherical microparticles – known as seeds – into the MOF solution. In effect the seeds ‘fix’ the MOF crystals to the surface. So by controlling the placement of the seeds we can control how and where the MOFs grow – even on complex three-dimensional surfaces...
“For example, we have found that we can add nanoparticles to the seed which make MOF magnetic, luminescent, catalytic, photochromic – all without compromising the quality of the MOF structure. In effect we have developed a new class of adaptive MOF composites made up of a functional core surrounded by an ultra-porous framework.”