Blind people 'see' microscope images using touch-feedback device

How do you study a blood cell if you can't see it? You feel it, using a device that translates scientific data into tactile information. "We want to help people that are blind or visually impaired and studying science," says Ting Zhang at Purdue University in Indiana. Her team has developed a system that uses a haptic device – an interface that gives you feedback you can touch or physically feel – to let people interpret visual information using their hands. This sophisticated joystick is hooked up to a computer connected to a microscope.