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Nanotechnology Makes It Possible For Mice To See In Infrared (sciencedaily.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from ScienceDaily: Humans and other mammals are limited to seeing a range of wavelengths of light called visible light, which includes the wavelengths of the rainbow. But infrared radiation, which has a longer wavelength, is all around us. People, animals and objects emit infrared light as they give off heat, and objects can also reflect infrared light. A multidisciplinary group of scientists led by Xue and Jin Bao at the University of Science and Technology of China as well as Gang Han at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, developed the nanotechnology to work with the eye's existing structures.
In this study, the scientists made nanoparticles that can anchor tightly to photoreceptor cells and act as tiny infrared light transducers. When infrared light hits the retina, the nanoparticles capture the longer infrared wavelengths and emit shorter wavelengths within the visible light range. The nearby rod or cone then absorbs the shorter wavelength and sends a normal signal to the brain, as if visible light had hit the retina. "In our experiment, nanoparticles absorbed infrared light around 980 nm in wavelength and converted it into light peaked at 535 nm, which made the infrared light appear as the color green," said one of the researchers. The researchers tested the nanoparticles in mice, which, like humans, cannot see infrared naturally. Mice that received the injections showed unconscious physical signs that they were detecting infrared light, such as their pupils constricting, while mice injected with only the buffer solution didn't respond to infrared light. The study was published in the journal Cell.
In this study, the scientists made nanoparticles that can anchor tightly to photoreceptor cells and act as tiny infrared light transducers. When infrared light hits the retina, the nanoparticles capture the longer infrared wavelengths and emit shorter wavelengths within the visible light range. The nearby rod or cone then absorbs the shorter wavelength and sends a normal signal to the brain, as if visible light had hit the retina. "In our experiment, nanoparticles absorbed infrared light around 980 nm in wavelength and converted it into light peaked at 535 nm, which made the infrared light appear as the color green," said one of the researchers. The researchers tested the nanoparticles in mice, which, like humans, cannot see infrared naturally. Mice that received the injections showed unconscious physical signs that they were detecting infrared light, such as their pupils constricting, while mice injected with only the buffer solution didn't respond to infrared light. The study was published in the journal Cell.
Stop giving the animals super powers you fools!!!
Its probably better than our present habit of making stupid people famous.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
I work in a highly related field. All the time I get asked about extending the sensitivity of our visual system in cool, biotech-y ways.
My standard response is: buy the appropriate glasses / goggles / binoculars / telescope / microscope / filter and leave your biology intact. We're much, much better at designing desk-sized microscopes than we are at making ones that fit inside your eye somehow. We are much, much better at designing low-vision assistance devices that can read signs out loud (like your cell phone) than we are at making implants to restore sight (at least for now). And, for this case, we're much, much better at making night-vision scopes that make you look cool when you wear them than we are at injecting nanoparticles into your eyes in a procedure that has a non-trivial chance of rendering you blind.
Pure electro-mechanical technology in the form of a wearable or external device of some sort is far, far more advanced than biotechnology right now. And it, generally speaking, is reversible, something none of the current generation of biological approaches have.
Should we continue research on this sort of thing? Oh, yes, definitely! But don't think about using it, yet. Not for a long while.
It all boils down to the observation: just because you CAN do something (create IR-sensitive vision by injecting nanoparticles in your eyes) does not mean you SHOULD do it, and that there are not any vastly better alternatives.
Put my fist through my alarm clock with its ding-dong death inside my ear. - The Blackjacks.