Your Eyes Can See In Pitch Darkness Like A Cat, Here's How

Dhir Acharya - Jun 10, 2020


Your Eyes Can See In Pitch Darkness Like A Cat, Here's How

While humans are much more intelligent than animals, we cannot see in the dark like they do. But scientists have found a way to give our eyes that ability.

It’s an undeniable truth that mankind is an interesting species. Humans are intelligent and can do things that animals cannot. However, some of our senses are not as good as those of animals, such as our eyes.

We can barely see in the dark while animals like cats, tigers, and snakes can see things much clearer and they do that effortlessly, helping them hunt in the night.

Night goggles help us see in the dark
Night goggles help us see in the dark

Over the decades, we have tried to overcome this by developing night goggles, commonly used by the army, but they are nothing like the real night-vision eyes. The good news is scientists have come up with a way to help humans obtain night vision like that of a cat.

Popular Mechanics reported that researchers from the University of Massachusetts Medical School have obtained this capability by injecting nanoparticles into mice’s eyes.

These nanoparticles can turn Infrared light into a light that’s visible to the subject, giving humans the capabilities of seeing in almost complete darkness.

The researchers injected nanoparticles into mice's eyes
The researchers injected nanoparticles into mice's eyes

The researchers injected the nanoparticles into some mice and left others with their regular eyes for comparison. Then, they placed the mice in a maze and noticed at in pitch darkness, the mice with the nanoparticles could see where they were heading while the others were stuck at every corner.

According to researchers, this night vision can last for up to 10 weeks without causing side effects to the subject.

The injection has to be direct to the eyeball
The injection has to be direct to the eyeball

However, shifting this result to humans is a long shot. The first reason is that we can’t tell what a human will see through those nanoparticles. Also, if the particles turn out not as good as the night goggles, shifting to them could be a waste.

Secondly, the night vision lasts only 10 weeks and the injection is direct to the eyeball. It’s unclear how this injection process will work for the army during battles.

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