New contacts allow you to see infrared light – even with your eyes closed
Directly from science fiction, these contact lenses convert infrared light into visible light that humans can see
People who have tested a new type of contact lenses designed can see the heart infrared signals from the light source.
Humans have a new way to see infrared light, without the need for night vision glasses. The researchers made the first contact lenses to transfer infrared vision – and the devices work even when people are closed.
The team behind this invention, led by scientists at the University of Science and Technology in China (USTC) in HFEI, gave their strengths by washing them with nanoparticles that have shifted the light near infrared in the range of 800-1,600-NANOMETER Researchers estimate that the lenses cost about 200 USD per pair.
The technology that was Detailed in the cell on May 22nd“It is incredible, just like something from a science fiction movie,” says Xiaomin Li, the chemist at the University of Vodan in Shanghai, China. “It opens” new possibilities for understanding the world around us. “
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Pros and negatives
The light close to infrared sits outside the range of wavelengths that humans can usually discover. Some animals can feel infrared light, although they may not be good enough to form pictures.
Night vision glasses enable human beings to see infrared radiation, but they are huge and require an energy source to work. New lenses avoid these restrictions with the presentation of the richer and multi -color infrared images that work on nightgrounds, which work on a monochromatic green scale, do not do it usually.
However, the lenses have their own shortcomings. Since the built -in nanoparticles are scattered light, the images created by blurred lenses. The team partially corrected this by placing technology in glasses with additional lenses that redirect light. Moreover, unlike night vision glasses, which enlarges light to discover low -level infrared signals, lenses allow users to see only intense infrared signals, such as those from light -emitting diodes (LEDS).
For these reasons, some critics do not believe that the lenses will prove that they are useful. “I can’t think of any application that will not be basically simpler with infrared glasses,” says Glenn Jeffrey, a neuroscientist at College University in London. “This development has avoided for a good reason.”
However, the authors believe that their lenses can be improved and anticipated many possible uses of invention. For example, its wearer would be able to read anti -disposal signs of the lengths of which are infrared but invisible to the human eye, says the co -author Yuqian MA, the nerve scientist in USTC.
Li, who did not participate in the work, offers another possibility: the lenses may be worn by doctors who are undergoing infrared surgery, to discover cancerous lesions and remove them directly “without relying on huge traditional equipment.”
“A delightful moment”
To create contact lenses, built scholars Previous research Where they are It gave infrared vision by mice by injecting nanoparticles into the retina of the animals. This time, they took a less invasive approach and added nanoparticles made of rare minerals from Earth including YTterbium and Erbium to soup from polymer blocks to form soft lenses, then test them for safety.
What is the main challenge is enough packages of nanoparticles in the lenses to convert adequate infrared light into a visible light that can be discovered, with no change in the characteristics of optical lenses, including their transparency.
Tests in mice showed that the animals that wear lenses tend to choose a dark box that was considered “safe” on one light from infrared light, while mice without lenses did not show any preference for any of the box. Humans who wear infrared lenses from LED can see well enough to pick up Morse Code and feel the direction from which the signals came from. Even the performance of the lenses may improve when the participants close their eyes, because the light of infrared brightness penetrates easily the eyelids, while the visible light, which can interfere with the formation of the image, does this to a lesser extent.
“Watching people who wear communication lenses and vision and infrared flash was undoubtedly a delightful moment.”
The team is now planning to find ways to make more nanoparticles in the lenses and hopes to develop molecules that can transform light with higher efficiency, to improve technology sensitivity. “We have overcome the physiological restrictions of human vision, as if it had opened a completely new window to the world.”
This article is cloned with permission It was first published On May 22, 2025.
