Computerized Contact Lenses: On the Horizon?

If and when this comes to fruition, I think we can confidently say that the future has arrived. TIME Healthland has the scoop on what it’s calling “Terminator-style contact lenses”—computerized ones that can project data right in front of a person’s eyeballs.

The research, being done by brainiacs at the University of Washington and Finland’s Aalto University, is still in it’s earliest stages. But with the development of a one-pixel prototype, the team has demonstrated that supercharged contact lenses are at least technologically feasible. If they can figure out how to cram on dozens and dozens more, there could be enough pixels to display text data, like emails and text messages. One day, you might even be able to look down a street and see text overlay explaining your surroundings: a history factoid here, a Philly Mag restaurant review there. Crazy, right?

TIME has all the technical specs on how the contacts actually work.