Enabling blind people to see again is the dream of many neuroscientists. We still have a long way to go to make this happen, but we have also made a lot of progress over the last twenty years, says Richard van Wezel of the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour. He presented his research into the development of a ‘prosthetic for blind people’ on the occasion of World Sight Day (12 October), an annual event that focuses attention on blindness and vision loss.