With the era of digital age breaking every unimaginable boundary, scientists and researchers have left no field of possible experimentation. In a shocking but true development, researchers have developed new contact lenses that can make life way easier for humans than ever expected.
Scientists have created night-vision contact lenses that can grant people "super-vision." These lenses make use of nanoparticles to absorb low-frequency light before emitting it in the visible spectrum. This enables wearers to see infrared wavelengths that are otherwise invisible. The researchers shared about the new device in the journal Cell Press, also detailing that they will not require a power source.
"Our research opens up the potential for non-invasive wearable devices to give people supervision," said Tian Xue, senior author and neuroscientist at the University of Science and Technology, China. "There are many potential applications right away for this material. For example, flickering infrared light could be used to transmit information in security, rescue, encryption or anti-counterfeiting settings."
The road towards creation
To create these lenses scientists embedded nanoparticles in flexible, nontoxic polymers. The nanoparticles which consist of sodium gadolinium fluoride are embedded with luminescent ytterbium, erbium and gold and help absorb near-infrared photons in the 800-1600 nanometre wavelength before emitting them as visible light wavelengths around 380-750 nanometres.
These lenses were first tested in mice who favoured dark boxes over illuminated by infrared light. Their pupils were constricted in the presence of infrared light sources with their brain scans showing their visual processing centers were firing.
Humans can now see with their eyes closed
However, in humans, the lenses showed something completely unexpected. While people could see flickering infrared light and pick up on its direction their vision was enhanced when they closed their eyes.
"It's totally clear cut: without the contact lenses, the subject cannot see anything, but when they put them on, they can clearly see the flickering of the infrared light," said Xue. We also found that when the subject closes their eyes, they're even better able to receive this flickering information, because near-infrared light penetrates the eyelid more effectively than visible light, so there is less interference from visible light."
Super-vision lenses can help with colour blindness
When scientists replaced the nanoparticles embedded in the lenses with modified versions that mapped specific parts of the near-infrared spectrum to blue, green and red, they realised that the change could be used to help people with colour blindness.
"By converting red visible light into something like green visible light, this technology could make the invisible visible for colour-blind people," Xue said.
However, according to the team, these lenses require much more work before they are made available to the people.
Scientists have created night-vision contact lenses that can grant people "super-vision." These lenses make use of nanoparticles to absorb low-frequency light before emitting it in the visible spectrum. This enables wearers to see infrared wavelengths that are otherwise invisible. The researchers shared about the new device in the journal Cell Press, also detailing that they will not require a power source.
"Our research opens up the potential for non-invasive wearable devices to give people supervision," said Tian Xue, senior author and neuroscientist at the University of Science and Technology, China. "There are many potential applications right away for this material. For example, flickering infrared light could be used to transmit information in security, rescue, encryption or anti-counterfeiting settings."
The road towards creation
To create these lenses scientists embedded nanoparticles in flexible, nontoxic polymers. The nanoparticles which consist of sodium gadolinium fluoride are embedded with luminescent ytterbium, erbium and gold and help absorb near-infrared photons in the 800-1600 nanometre wavelength before emitting them as visible light wavelengths around 380-750 nanometres.
These lenses were first tested in mice who favoured dark boxes over illuminated by infrared light. Their pupils were constricted in the presence of infrared light sources with their brain scans showing their visual processing centers were firing.
Humans can now see with their eyes closed
However, in humans, the lenses showed something completely unexpected. While people could see flickering infrared light and pick up on its direction their vision was enhanced when they closed their eyes.
"It's totally clear cut: without the contact lenses, the subject cannot see anything, but when they put them on, they can clearly see the flickering of the infrared light," said Xue. We also found that when the subject closes their eyes, they're even better able to receive this flickering information, because near-infrared light penetrates the eyelid more effectively than visible light, so there is less interference from visible light."
Super-vision lenses can help with colour blindness
When scientists replaced the nanoparticles embedded in the lenses with modified versions that mapped specific parts of the near-infrared spectrum to blue, green and red, they realised that the change could be used to help people with colour blindness.
"By converting red visible light into something like green visible light, this technology could make the invisible visible for colour-blind people," Xue said.
However, according to the team, these lenses require much more work before they are made available to the people.
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