Blind Man Sees With His Tongue

This story from FoxNews (thanks to my bother):

A British soldier who lost his sight in Iraq is being taught to 'see' with his tongue, using a revolutionary new device.

Craig Lundberg, 24, who was blinded in a rocket-propelled grenade attack three years ago, is the first British soldier to test the BrainPort system. The device consists of a high-tech "lollipop" that rests on Craig's tongue. It converts images from a video camera, that he wears on a pair of glasses, into signals that stimulate electrodes on the lollipop.

The $15,000 device works on the principle of sensory substitution. The brain recognizes that the signals stimulating the tongue have nothing to do with taste, and re-routes them to the visual center of the brain for processing. The brain is able to interpret the image, giving Craig rudimentary vision.

[The product website gives this slightly less sensational description: "Users describe it as pictures drawn on their tongue with champagne bubbles. With training users may perceive shape, size, location and motion of objects in their environment."]