There's been a lot of buzz this week about the bionic eye. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Northwestern University have developed an electronic camera (left) the shape of an eye. This could be heaven for for the visually impaired and those of us looking for a sharper view of the world.

According to a University of Illinois release, not until now could an artificial eye be developed to act as a camera.

We may soon opt to replace our eyes with single-crystalline silicon detectors.