University of Maryland researchers create a new pathway for sight by ‘rewiring’ the brain in animal study. ‘By surgically “rewiring” the brains of newborn hamsters, researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the

University of Montreal have shown that they can create new brain circuits that take over the functions of damaged ones. The

researchers found that the hamsters could still see visual patterns even after key areas of the brain devoted to sight had been

removed. In some cases, the researchers demonstrated that the animals were using the hearing regions of the brain to see.

Although it is not yet possible to create new neural pathways in humans, the research raises the possibility that a similar

technique might one day be used to treat brain damage in people.’