Electronic visual prostheses, or biomimetic eyes, have shown the feasibility of restoring functional vision in the blind through electrical pulses to initiate neural responses artificially. However, existing visual prostheses predominantly use wired connections or electromagnetic waves for powering and data telemetry, which raises safety concerns or couples inefficiently to miniaturized implant units. Here, we present a flexible ultrasound-induced retinal stimulating piezo-array that can offer an alternative wireless artificial retinal prosthesis approach for evoking visual percepts in blind individuals. The device integrates a two-dimensional piezo-array with 32-pixel stimulating electrodes in a flexible printed circuit board. Each piezo-element can be ultrasonically and individually activated, thus, spatially reconfigurable electronic patterns can be dynamically applied via programmable ultrasound beamlines. As a proof of concept, we demonstrate the ultrasound-induced pattern reconstruction in ex vivo murine retinal tissue, showing the potential of this approach to restore functional, life-enhancing vision in people living with blindness.

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This article explores how care and space shape doctoral becoming. We extend previous higher education research that has critically examined the spatial arrangements of postgraduate study to explore how doctoral students negotiate both study from home and care-work responsibilities. The article draws on collaborative autoethnographic texts created by the authors to understand the ways in which care shaped their decisions about study spaces. We identify both exclusions and disadvantage in these accounts, at the same time as we discern wilfulness in the ways the contradictory positions of postgraduate student and caregiver were negotiated. We conclude the article by arguing that educational spaces are involved in the maintenance of academic norms that position care-work as invisible and out-of-place/space. Despite this, the creation of productive home spaces that facilitate both care and doctoral work remain possible.

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