Infrared contact lenses let you see in the dark (arstechnica.com)
from will_a113@lemm.ee to technology@lemmy.world on 22 May 18:58
https://lemm.ee/post/64688107

#technology

threaded - newest

0p3r470r@lemm.ee on 22 May 19:53 next collapse

“I have dark vision”

-future people

MaggiWuerze@feddit.org on 23 May 07:56 collapse

"Show me"

  • some dude with a flashlight
Moriarty@startrek.website on 23 May 15:12 collapse

"Owww"

  • Future People
loki@piefed.social on 23 May 16:29 collapse

"Dumbass"
- Future People's Friends

Buffalox@lemmy.world on 22 May 19:54 next collapse

This explains the real technology behind it:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upconverting_nanoparticles

Pulptastic@midwest.social on 23 May 12:02 collapse

Yep, that won’t cause cancer.

Buffalox@lemmy.world on 23 May 12:46 collapse

It also doesn’t have any accuracy whatsoever. It only makes it possible to detect infrared, but not to see where it came from. And being opaque they make you blind when wearing the lenses.

Empricorn@feddit.nl on 23 May 13:27 next collapse

Without even visiting the article I can say with full confidence these contact lenses will not be opaque.

EDIT: We really don’t have to go beyond the conceptual stage.

  • transparent: clear, all light goes through
  • translucent: clouded, some light goes through
  • opaque: wall, no light goes through

Yes, this includes ultraviolet light. If a contact lens is opaque, it blocks all light from passing through the eye’s lens and cornea. It will never reach the retina to even be recognized as on or off! No opaque contact lens will ever be used. Please tell me if I’m wrong…

Jtotheb@lemmy.world on 23 May 18:38 collapse

Yes, this includes ultraviolet light.

Why? Does it also include x-rays? That’s only one step further on the electromagnetic spectrum. Seems arbitrary to stop at ultraviolet waves! Does that mean thin sheets of steel aren’t opaque? Or is the term “opaque”, without any modifiers attached, colloquially used to describe whether something permits visible light through?

For the record, they’re not opaque. The original article actually says they work better if you close your eyes.

Buddahriffic@lemmy.world on 23 May 20:54 collapse

Or with cosmic rays, not sure anything would be opaque.

barsoap@lemm.ee on 23 May 15:55 collapse

We already can detect direction of infrared radiation, it’s called being warm on one side but not the other. Technically also possible by, say, lying half-way under a blanket and half-way not, but sensory integration takes care of the ambiguity.

More interestingly, did you know we can see the polarisation of light?

Buffalox@lemmy.world on 23 May 17:45 collapse

No I did not know that. Interesting.

unphazed@lemmy.world on 22 May 19:58 next collapse

Whatever happened to the jellyfish eyedrops?

hsdkfr734r@feddit.nl on 22 May 20:18 collapse

jellyfish eyedrops?

Why would they need eye drops? They are submerged in salty water.

darklamer@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 22 May 23:10 next collapse

… and don’t have eyes!

hsdkfr734r@feddit.nl on 23 May 16:04 collapse

Yes. Light receptors maybe, but eyes…

source

… and light-sensing organs called ocelli, which can sense the presence and absence of light. Additionally, some jellyfish have sensory structures called rhopalia, which contain receptors to detect light, chemicals and movement.

Oh wait! This is unexpected:

… One group of jellyfish, the cubozoan jellyfish, have complex eyes… with lenses, corneas and retinas in their rhopalia.

Huh. Wiki agrees:

box jellyfish are unique in the possession of true eyes, complete with retinas, corneas and lenses.[13] Their eyes are set in clusters at the ends of sensory structures called rhopalia

Whoa.

darklamer@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 23 May 16:46 collapse

WTF!? [subscribe to jellyfish facts]

unphazed@lemmy.world on 22 May 23:28 collapse

It was an eyedrop that used a protein or something from jellyfish, that affected human eyes to temporarily see better in low light. Been years since I’ve heard anything about it. Another sensationalized “breakthrough” I guess.

DempstersBox@lemmy.world on 23 May 14:26 collapse

So, the articles are old, but chlorin e6 mixed with insulin and DMSO in saline gives a temporary boost to nightvision.

Sounds fucking awesome, and the ingredients all seem fairly easy to acquire. No commercial product, but why would there be?

muhyb@programming.dev on 22 May 20:01 next collapse

even with eyes closed

Not sure I would want something like that.

Iamsqueegee@sh.itjust.works on 22 May 20:06 collapse

You would if you don’t like surprises.

Big brother: “Okay, open your mouth and close your eyes, and I’ve got a big surprise!” Closes eyes: “not this time, fucker”

qarbone@lemmy.world on 22 May 20:22 collapse

How would you get a surprise in the mouth when you’re stuck headfirst in the washer?

whiskybourbon@lemmy.world on 22 May 22:49 collapse

This is real bro not step bro. Totally different shenanigans involved.

reluctant_squidd@lemmy.ca on 22 May 20:13 next collapse

And blinded by security cameras?

Seriously, wouldn’t being able to see infrared basically make you see night vision cameras like they are street lights?

corroded@lemmy.world on 22 May 20:17 next collapse

Not really. While I don’t have the exact numbers, the output of an infrared LED is no higher (usually) than an LED in the visible range. My security cameras have an array of 10 or so LEDs.

So looking at a security camera would be roughly equivalent to staring at a light bulb.

reluctant_squidd@lemmy.ca on 22 May 20:19 next collapse

Ok, so not really bright, but visible. I smell the plot to a bank heist movie.

moonlight@fedia.io on 22 May 20:25 collapse

Also infrared cameras are pretty sensitive, so the lights often aren't that bright.

And the contact lens definitely won't make infrared light as bright as visibly light. It also likely doesn't line up exactly with the wavelength used by most cameras.

It would probably be noticeable but not appear very bright.

Brokkr@lemmy.world on 22 May 21:03 next collapse

Your phone’s camera should be able to “see” the IR from security cameras and IR remotes. That can give you a sense for home much and in what direction they emit.

The sensitivities will be different, your phone should still help you some.

JohnEdwa@sopuli.xyz on 23 May 15:18 collapse

Phone cameras have very good IR filters. They aren’t perfect which is why they can still see the LEDs, but they aren’t anywhere near as bright.

I have an old RasPi camera with the IR filter removed, a remote control looks like someone used an old-school camera flash in pitch darkness. Which is how you can control your TV sometimes even from the next room over - especially at night with no ir from the sun - shine the remote at the wall, and the wall blinks bright enough for the TV to see it, often even after a few reflections.

Psythik@lemm.ee on 22 May 21:24 collapse

So don’t stare directly at them, then?

Infrared lights don’t need a lot of wattage to do their job. They wouldn’t be any more obnoxious than a light bulb.

Psythik@lemm.ee on 22 May 21:36 next collapse

Maybe it’s just my ADHD, but the article doesn’t seem to be clear on something: do these contacts actually allow you to see into near-infrared as it exists, or do they merely shift the light into a spectrum we can see, the way cameras do? I’m hoping for the former, but I doubt we have the tech to allow us to see new colors simply by putting on a pair of contacts.

(Also, the mental image of scientists putting tiny little contact lenses on mice is hilarious to me.)

Bubs@lemm.ee on 22 May 21:50 next collapse

TL;DR from Wikipedia: In photon upconversion, two or more incident photons of relatively low energy are absorbed and converted into one emitted photon with higher energy.

Basically photons are combined into a photon that is nearer in wavelength to visible light.

Psythik@lemm.ee on 22 May 22:10 collapse

Aww that’s disappointing, but I’m not surprised. Otherwise we’d be using this tech to help colorblind people tell the difference between red and green.

mbirth@lemmy.ml on 23 May 07:50 collapse

You mean cyclists?

Psythik@lemm.ee on 23 May 09:55 collapse

LMAO

mp3@lemmy.ca on 22 May 22:10 next collapse

It shifts the wavelength into the visible range, it doesn’t grant you the ability to see new “colors”. It’s more like a translation into a color you already know.

Reverendender@sh.itjust.works on 22 May 22:42 collapse

Well that’s a lame perk tree

bluemellophone@lemmy.world on 23 May 05:16 collapse

To counter the first theory, a contact cannot change the physical biology of the photon detecting cells (rods and cones) in the back of your eye. Nothing can, short of modifying your genetics.

So you can either become part mantis shrimp, or shift the wavelengths into the spectrum your biology already can absorb and interpret.

ouRKaoS@lemmy.today on 22 May 21:59 next collapse

Seems familiar…

<img alt="Riddick" src="https://lemmy.today/pictrs/image/51590c47-7ed7-44f4-b574-e6cbff508aab.jpeg">

Kolanaki@pawb.social on 22 May 22:55 next collapse

Before now you had to kill a bunch of dudes, get sent to the darkest supermax prison, and pay some dude a few packs of Kools to get these bad boys.

ozymandias117@lemmy.world on 22 May 23:00 next collapse

Did that, did a lot of that. There wasn’t any doctor here who could shine my eyes. Not even for 20 menthol cools. Was anything you said true?

MilitantAtheist@lemmy.world on 23 May 14:33 collapse

I worked on that game

Sturgist@lemmy.ca on 23 May 14:55 collapse

… MFR…do NOT leave us hanging!

MilitantAtheist@lemmy.world on 23 May 19:44 collapse

Nothing much to say, been a game dev since 99, worked on a lot of games. Including escape from butcher bay.

Flemmy@lemm.ee on 23 May 15:39 collapse

Pitch Black is a underrated movie.

Klear@lemmy.world on 23 May 18:03 next collapse

I only saw it the theatre because I went to see Shyamalan’s Signs and the reels didn’t arrive so they played Pitch Black instead.

I was lucky.

Vanilla_PuddinFudge@infosec.pub on 23 May 21:11 collapse

The third Riddick film is derivative of Pitch Black but imo, in the best ways possible. See it if you haven’t. You won’t be disappointed.

GoodOleAmerika@lemmy.world on 23 May 19:53 collapse

I call it BS

Jimmycrackcrack@lemmy.ml on 24 May 06:08 collapse

Black sight? Binocular Superiority? Better Seeing?