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This is the Happy Pod from the BBC World Service.

I'm Jean-Aat Jolil and in this edition...

I could have cried when I looked, because I haven't seen letters for so long,

and then I lit up the word, and it was overwhelming.

We learn about the implants allowing blind patients to read again.

The woman who played the clarinet while she was having surgery on her brain for Parkinson's disease.

Before I had the operation, I could only swim about one stroke. So I had got to the point

where it was really difficult to move. And it's just completely changed my life. Plus,

we owe them. We have to cherish and conserve them, because nowadays it's all machines.

We have to conserve Thai buffaloes as much as we can.

Redefining water buffaloes as beauty queens.

And?

She stood there for, it was probably only 10 seconds,

but it felt like about 10 minutes.

We had this standoff. It was just a tableau.

The dog that squared up to a bear. Find out who won.

We begin with a medical breakthrough. A new piece of technology that's helped blind patients regain the ability to read.

Doctors at Moorfield's Eye Hospital here in London used microchips implanted at the back of the eyes in five patients.

The results of this international trial have been described as astounding.

The Happy Pod's Harry Bly spoke to the BBC's medical

editor, Fergus Wash. So it's a 2mm by 2mm of chip, which is as thin as a human hair, which is

...