Just this week we learned about an 85-year-old woman in the UK who had a malignant growth in her eye. Her doctors thought the only way to treat her was to remove the eye and then subject her to months of radiotherapy.

But luckily for this patient, a new procedure was available, using a robot to perform the surgery with tools so tiny that they were able to remove the tumor without damaging her eye. It was a world first. You can read more about it here.

In other news, a team of scientists partially restored the sight of a blind man by building light-catching proteins in one of his eyes. Using a technique called optogenetics, researchers added light-sensitive proteins to the man’s retina, giving him a blurry view of objects.

The volunteer was able to see a shadowy image of objects in a narrow field of view while wearing special goggles — a far cry from full vision — but still pretty amazing, and the authors of the report say that the trial, which is the result of 13 years of work, proves that the concept can be used for more effective treatments in the future. You can read more here.

Remember when the idea of a tiny hand-held computer seemed far-fetched? In another 20 years, it may just be commonplace for people to have their vision restored by robots — or by the injection of genetic material into their eyes.