Bionic contact lens could project floating emails

Steve Jurvetson/Flickr

(CBS) - Contact lenses take a leap forward with a new technology that projects text and images before your eyes.

The technology works by embedding a custom-made sapphire LED and circular antenna into a plastic contact lens. In the test, a single pixel was controlled by a remote radio frequency transmitting data from the lens.

If you've ever watched a "Terminator" movie, you can imagine how it works. There are endless possibilities for its use, like step-by-step GPS directions or a true virtual reality experience.

University of Washington associate professor of electrical engineering Babak Amir Parviz and ophthalmologist Tueng Shen collaborated with researchers at Aalto University in Finland on a paper called "A single-pixel wireless contact lens display," published in the Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering.

Their research was tested on "live, anesthetized rabbits." By the way, yes, viewing photos of rabbit eyes are as traumatic as it sounds.

No need to worry about the T-1000 coming to life just yet. The lens can only be worn for a few minutes at a time because of it's made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) - a hard plastic which doesn't allow the eye to breath. Not to mention, the energy source for the lens only works for in close proximity.

While the research is a mind-blowing accomplishment, the thought of emails or, God forbid, my Facebook news feed streamed in my eyes is terrifying. Migraine much?

[Alinagracie]

Normally, we can only see objects clearly if they are held several centimetres away from the eye.
<a href="http://www.cheapcontactlensesguide.com/">Cheap Contact Lenses</a>

[Bojax39]

So if now we figure a way to implant smartphones we're all set.

[jjoe57]

An obvious question: Wouldn't these contact lenses distort your vision and, maybe, cause you to have an auto accident while driving?

[Bojax39]

No more than blabbering and text messaging on a phone while behind the wheel does already. :-)