Thanks to two scientists, two monkeys, and lots of hard work, a common kind of color blindness may soon become a thing of the past. Are you color blind? To fix it, all you’ll have to do is…stick a needle in your eye. Yikes!

Scientists Jay and Maureen Neitz have studied color blindness for years. Color blindness happens when someone is born without certain eye proteins. These proteins sense color. Without them, some people can’t tell the difference between red and green. Others confuse blue with green and yellow with violet. In the worst cases, color blind people see nothing but gray.

Two squirrel monkeys named Dalton and Sam helped the Neitzes in their research. Male squirrel monkeys can’t distinguish red and green. The scientists did surgery on the monkeys. They put human color-sensing proteins into the monkeys’ eyes. Soon the monkeys could recognize new colors!

But the monkey solution didn’t seem right for humans. The surgery had too many risks. The Neitzes thought for 10 years. They needed a way to inject the proteins all the way to the back of the eye. So they developed the shot. After the shot, color proteins should sneak into the patient’s eye cells. It will be almost like a secret takeover! The procedure may one day be performed in a single visit to the eye doctor.

The new technology won’t be ready for a few years. Tests must be done first. But many colorblind people have their eyes on the progress. Will they soon see certain colors for the very first time?