TOP Discovery 2009 - 3. Gene Therapy Cures Color Blindness

Modern science already offers ways to enhance your mood, sex drive, athletic performance, concentration levels and overall health, but a discovery in September suggests that truly revolutionary human enhancement may soon move from science fiction to reality. A study in Nature reported that a team of ophthalmologists had injected genes that produce color-detecting proteins into the eyes of two color-blind monkeys, allowing the animals to see red and green for the first time. The results were shocking to most — "We said it was possible, but every single person I talked to said, 'Absolutely not,' " said study co-author Jay Neitz of the University of Washington — and raised the possibility that a range of vision defects could someday be cured. That's a transformative prospect in itself, but the discovery further suggests that it may be possible to enhance senses in "healthy" people too, truly revolutionizing the way we see the world.