Night Vision

Scientists Just Took a Major Step Towards Injecting Eyes With Night Vision

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An incredible new nanotechnology could one day enable us to see in the dark. It works on mice, and there’s little to say it wouldn’t be equally effective on other mammals. The only drawback – how are you with needles to the eyeball?

Research led by the University of Science and Technology of China produced particles that adhere to light-detecting cells in the retina and help them respond to near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths.

The back of our eye, which is where the retina is, acts like a television screen in reverse. As the full spectrum of light falls on its cells, some wavelengths trigger chemical reactions we perceive as either colour or intensity.

Rod-shaped cells tell our brain how bright it is. They react strongly to light waves around 500 nanometres in size, but struggle to respond to anything above 640 nanometres, well into the red part of the spectrum.

We also have three types of tapering ‘cone’ shaped photoreceptor cells, each sensitive to their own parts of the spectrum. Combined, they provide our brains with the detail needed to tell colours apart.

But those cones also fail to detect light longer than around 700 nanometres, which means anything beyond the red part of the spectrum is completely invisible to us.

That’s a shame. What looks like darkness to us is often washed in low-energy, low wavelength parts of the spectrum. A number of animals, such as snakes and frogs, have evolved ways to tap into these wavelengths to track prey or see better at night.

Unfortunately mammals never managed to evolve what it takes to see even the edge of this infra-red spectrum. We humans have it relatively lucky. Mice only have rods and two types of cone cells, which all top out at wavelengths a little under ours.

There are quirks of chemistry that can help us glimpse a flash of NIR light, but generally speaking, an infra-red landscape is strictly off limits to us humans.

Bulky night vision goggles can capture this radiation and amplify it in wavelengths we can see, but wearing such tech is cumbersome and it can’t be used under daylight conditions.

The nanoparticles developed by the researchers in this latest innovation act like miniature night vision devices – only these ones sit directly on the actual light-sensitive cells.

Called retinal photoreceptor-binding upconversion nanoparticles, they’re a protein built to adhere to both rod and cone photoreceptors and transduce long wavelengths into shorter ones.

The result is a nanoscale device that acts like a tiny antenna, soaking up invisible NIR radiation and turning it into a colour that is more likely to trigger rods and cones into action, painting the world in hues of green.

Injected into mice, the whole process seems to work brilliantly. The nanoantennae were shown to not only stick to photoreceptors, but an LED shining weakly at 980 nanometres elicited retinal responses that were demonstrated to affect the brain’s visual cortex.

In a more practical experiment, the treated mice were able to differentiate simple shapes such as triangles and circles illuminated by the LED under various conditions. Best of all, they were still able to see just fine under normal daylight conditions.

The vision change didn’t come with awful side effects either. The only issue the team found was cloudiness in the eyes of the mice.

The mouse visual system is similar enough to humans that we might expect a version of this method could potentially work for us, too. In fact, there’s even a weird sort-of precedent.

A few years ago, biohackers rigged a similar process using a light sensitive substance called Chlorin e6 to make the retina generally more sensitive to light. Applied as eye drops, subjects could allegedly see longer distances under low light conditions.

Whether this promises genuine technology or was simply an overhyped experiment is up for debate. Eye drops would certainly be better than an injection into the eyeball, but this new nanotechnology has far more rigorous science to back it up.

It’s not hard to come up with cool uses for such tech. Military applications aside, who wouldn’t want to see better at night? Astronomers, for one.

“We may have the capability to view all the hidden information from NIR and IR radiation in the Universe which is invisible to our naked eyes,” says biochemist Gang Han from the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

But there are also serious research benefits in the form of experimental tools that can investigate visual processes on new levels.

“With this research, we’ve broadly expanded the applications of our nanoparticle technology both in the lab and translationally,” says Han.

“These nanoantennae will allow scientists to explore a number of intriguing questions, from how the brain interprets visual signals to helping treat colour blindness.”

Scientists have figured out how to inject human eyes with night vision .

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This is the face of a human guinea pig.

A team of biochemical researchers in the US has figured out how to give a human volunteer night vision, allowing him to see across a distance of over 50 metres in total darkness for several hours.

The key is a natural, light-sensitive substance called Chlorin e6 (Ce6), which is derived from sea creatures and has been used for many years in cancer treatment research. It’s also been shown to be effective in the treatment of night blindness and improving dim light vision in people with eye disorders, so an independent team of self-described ‘bio-hackers’ in California called Science for the Masses decided to see how else it could be used to improve vision.

The idea came from a patent filed in 2012, claiming that when you apply a mixture of Ce6, insulin, and saline to a person’s eye, the retina will absorb it and increase vision in low light. The patent also mentions that the chemical dimethlysulfoxide (DMSO) can be used in place of the insulin, but the Science for the Masses team thought, why not use both to increase the permeability of the solution?

“Going off that research, we thought this would be something to move ahead with,” the lab’s medical officer, Jeffrey Tibbetts, told Max Plenke at Mic. “There are a fair amount of papers talking about having it injected in models like rats, and it’s been used intravenously since the ’60s as a treatment for different cancers. After doing the research, you have to take the next step.”

Fellow researcher, Gabriel Licina (pictured above), stepped forward to be their human guinea pig. The team explains the procedure over at their website:

“For the application, the subject rested supine and his eyes were flushed with saline to remove any micro-debris or contaminants that might be present. Eyes were pinned open with a small speculum to remove the potential for blinking, which may force excess liquid out before it had a chance to absorb. Ce6 solution was added to the conjunctival sac via micropippette at 3 doses of 50μl into each eye. 

After each application, pressure was applied to the canthus to stop liquid from moving from the eye to the nasal region. Each dose was allowed to absorb between reloading the pippette, with the black colour disappearing after only a few seconds.

After application was complete, the speculum was removed and black sclera lenses were placed into each eye to reduce the potential light entering the eye. Black sunglasses were then worn during all but testing, to ensure increased low light conditions and reduce the potential for bright light exposure.”

Licina reported experiencing the effects for “many hours” after application, the team reports.

Licina and four controls were then placed in a dark environment, and Licina waited to feel the effects. After about an hour, he started to make out the objects of shapes in the darkness about 10 metres away. Soon, this distance progressed to 20, and eventually just over 50 metres, with Licina able to recognise and identify symbols and objects, such as numbers, letters, and shapes, moving against differently coloured and patterned backgrounds. Licina and the controls were tested on how many they could identify. And we’re not talking huge objects here, Licina told Mic they were about the size of his hand.

Next, Licina and the controls were taken out into the woods at night and moved into separate locations. Then they were asked to try and spot people standing in random locations 50 metres away. The team reports the results, and they’re pretty phenomenal:

“The Ce6 subject and controls were handed a laser pointer and asked to identify the location of the people in the grove. After testing, the Ce6 subject replaced the sunglasses, which were not removed until sleep. Eyesight in the morning seemed to have returned to normal and as of 20 days, there have been no noticeable effects.

The Ce6 subject consistently recognised symbols that did not seem to be visible to the controls. The Ce6 subject identified the distant figures 100 percent of the time, with the controls showing a 33 percent identification rate.”

The team recognises that a lot more testing needs to be done, but they say that this can be done cheaply, because the substances are inexpensive, and have already been rigorously tested for human safety for other applications.

They told Max Plenke at Mic that the whole idea behind their research group is to pursue the things that major corporations or research institutions wouldn’t bother with, but are too fascinating to ignore. “For us, it comes down to pursuing things that are doable but won’t be pursued by major corporations,” said Tibbetts. “There are rules to be followed and don’t go crazy, but science isn’t a mystical language that only a few elite people can speak.”

We cannot wait to see what comes from this.

Scientists have figured out how to inject human eyes with night vision .

Posted by

0


A team of biochemical researchers in the US has figured out how to give a human volunteer night vision, allowing him to see across a distance of over 50 metres in total darkness for several hours.

The key is a natural, light-sensitive substance called Chlorin e6 (Ce6), which is derived from sea creatures and has been used for many years in cancer treatment research. It’s also been shown to be effective in the treatment of night blindness and improving dim light vision in people with eye disorders, so an independent team of self-described ‘bio-hackers’ in California called Science for the Masses decided to see how else it could be used to improve vision.

The idea came from a patent filed in 2012, claiming that when you apply a mixture of Ce6, insulin, and saline to a person’s eye, the retina will absorb it and increase vision in low light. The patent also mentions that the chemical dimethlysulfoxide (DMSO) can be used in place of the insulin, but the Science for the Masses team thought, why not use both to increase the permeability of the solution?

“Going off that research, we thought this would be something to move ahead with,” the lab’s medical officer, Jeffrey Tibbetts, told Max Plenke at Mic. “There are a fair amount of papers talking about having it injected in models like rats, and it’s been used intravenously since the ’60s as a treatment for different cancers. After doing the research, you have to take the next step.”

Fellow researcher, Gabriel Licina (pictured above), stepped forward to be their human guinea pig. The team explains the procedure over at their website:

“For the application, the subject rested supine and his eyes were flushed with saline to remove any micro-debris or contaminants that might be present. Eyes were pinned open with a small speculum to remove the potential for blinking, which may force excess liquid out before it had a chance to absorb. Ce6 solution was added to the conjunctival sac via micropippette at 3 doses of 50μl into each eye. 

After each application, pressure was applied to the canthus to stop liquid from moving from the eye to the nasal region. Each dose was allowed to absorb between reloading the pippette, with the black colour disappearing after only a few seconds.

After application was complete, the speculum was removed and black sclera lenses were placed into each eye to reduce the potential light entering the eye. Black sunglasses were then worn during all but testing, to ensure increased low light conditions and reduce the potential for bright light exposure.”

Licina reported experiencing the effects for “many hours” after application, the team reports.

Licina and four controls were then placed in a dark environment, and Licina waited to feel the effects. After about an hour, he started to make out the objects of shapes in the darkness about 10 metres away. Soon, this distance progressed to 20, and eventually just over 50 metres, with Licina able to recognise and identify symbols and objects, such as numbers, letters, and shapes, moving against differently coloured and patterned backgrounds. Licina and the controls were tested on how many they could identify. And we’re not talking huge objects here, Licina told Mic they were about the size of his hand.

Next, Licina and the controls were taken out into the woods at night and moved into separate locations. Then they were asked to try and spot people standing in random locations 50 metres away. The team reports the results, and they’re pretty phenomenal:

“The Ce6 subject and controls were handed a laser pointer and asked to identify the location of the people in the grove. After testing, the Ce6 subject replaced the sunglasses, which were not removed until sleep. Eyesight in the morning seemed to have returned to normal and as of 20 days, there have been no noticeable effects.

The Ce6 subject consistently recognised symbols that did not seem to be visible to the controls. The Ce6 subject identified the distant figures 100 percent of the time, with the controls showing a 33 percent identification rate.”

The team recognises that a lot more testing needs to be done, but they say that this can be done cheaply, because the substances are inexpensive, and have already been rigorously tested for human safety for other applications.

They told Max Plenke at Mic that the whole idea behind their research group is to pursue the things that major corporations or research institutions wouldn’t bother with, but are too fascinating to ignore. “For us, it comes down to pursuing things that are doable but won’t be pursued by major corporations,” said Tibbetts. “There are rules to be followed and don’t go crazy, but science isn’t a mystical language that only a few elite people can speak.”

We cannot wait to see what comes from this.

Night Vision Enhanced To Superhuman Levels Using Common Cancer Drug, Eye Drops

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Chlorin e6, or Ce6, is a common component in cancer therapy and has recently been used in treating night blindness. Science for the Masses, a research group of curious “BioHackers,” were interested in what the chemical could do for those who already had perfect vision. The result was astounding and could affect the way we currently approach night vision enhancement.

Ce6 is a compound found mainly in deep-sea fish and sometimes used as a photosensitizer in laser-assisted cancer treatment. Ce6’s sensitivity to light has been observed to help thosewho are visually impaired; however, its effects on perfectly healthy human vision remained untested. That is, until about a month ago when Gabriel Licina, Jeffrey Tibbetts, and their science-hungry teammates decided to create their own night-vision experiment.

To start their venture into super-human abilities, the team first procured the Ce6 and mixed it into a saline solution which was then deposited into Licina’s eye. “It doesn’t really feel like anything,” Licina told Medical Daily. “It felt like eye drops.”

According to the paper on the experiment, afterward Licina was fitted with black sclera lenses to help reduce the amount of potential light from entering his eye. He also wore black sunglasses at all times, except during the vision experiments. After letting the solution set in his eye for about two hours, Licina and four controls went into a dark field to test how well the solution enhanced his eyesight in pitch blackness. As expected, Licina’s eyesight was significantly better than those who did not receive the solution. When asked to point out people standing in the dark woods, Licina was correct 100 percent of the time, while the controls only answered correctly about a third of the time, Mic reported.

“It’s actually really subtle … like dark becomes dim, nothing crazy like Riddick. Just like, ‘Oh, you can see better,” Licina said.

putting in the solutionAfter letting the solution set in his eye for about two hours, Licina and four controls went into a dark field to test how well the solution enhanced his eyesight in pitch blackness. Photo courtesy of Science of the Masses

Although the team waited two hours before beginning experiments, according to Licina’s paper, the effects could be felt within one hour and lasted for “many hours” after the application. The sunglasses were again put on Licina, who wore them until he awoke in the morning. As of 20 days following the experiments, Licina reported no residual effects.

While there were no major side effects reported in Science for the Masses’ experiment, the group used large precaution with their experimentation, and for a good reason. Ce6 by nature is meant to create free radicals when given the right wavelength, which in the right instances can destroy cancer and in the wrong can cause bodily damage. The small doses used by the team, however, are highly unlikely to cause damage.

The results from this initial experiment were exciting, but Science for the Masses explained that much more testing will need to be done in order to truly prove Ce6’s night vision enhancing abilities. The next step for the team is to accurately measure the changes to the eye and create concrete scientific evidence to their findings.

“The first thing was just getting it out there,” Licina said. “It’s just another piece in the big understanding of how things work.”

Source: Licina G, Tibbetts J. A Review on Night Enhancement Eyedrops Using Chlorin e6.Science for the Masses. 2015.

Night Vision Enhanced To Superhuman Levels Using Common Cancer Drug, Eye Drops

Posted by

0


Chlorin e6, or Ce6, is a common component in cancer therapy and has recently been used in treating night blindness. Science for the Masses, a research group of curious “BioHackers,” were interested in what the chemical could do for those who already had perfect vision. The result was astounding and could affect the way we currently approach night vision enhancement.

Ce6 is a compound found mainly in deep-sea fish and sometimes used as a photosensitizer in laser-assisted cancer treatment. Ce6’s sensitivity to light has been observed to help thosewho are visually impaired; however, its effects on perfectly healthy human vision remained untested. That is, until about a month ago when Gabriel Licina, Jeffrey Tibbetts, and their science-hungry teammates decided to create their own night-vision experiment.

To start their venture into super-human abilities, the team first procured the Ce6 and mixed it into a saline solution which was then deposited into Licina’s eye. “It doesn’t really feel like anything,” Licina told Medical Daily. “It felt like eye drops.”

According to the paper on the experiment, afterward Licina was fitted with black sclera lenses to help reduce the amount of potential light from entering his eye. He also wore black sunglasses at all times, except during the vision experiments. After letting the solution set in his eye for about two hours, Licina and four controls went into a dark field to test how well the solution enhanced his eyesight in pitch blackness. As expected, Licina’s eyesight was significantly better than those who did not receive the solution. When asked to point out people standing in the dark woods, Licina was correct 100 percent of the time, while the controls only answered correctly about a third of the time, Mic reported.

“It’s actually really subtle … like dark becomes dim, nothing crazy like Riddick. Just like, ‘Oh, you can see better,” Licina said.

putting in the solutionAfter letting the solution set in his eye for about two hours, Licina and four controls went into a dark field to test how well the solution enhanced his eyesight in pitch blackness. Photo courtesy of Science of the Masses

Although the team waited two hours before beginning experiments, according to Licina’s paper, the effects could be felt within one hour and lasted for “many hours” after the application. The sunglasses were again put on Licina, who wore them until he awoke in the morning. As of 20 days following the experiments, Licina reported no residual effects.

While there were no major side effects reported in Science for the Masses’ experiment, the group used large precaution with their experimentation, and for a good reason. Ce6 by nature is meant to create free radicals when given the right wavelength, which in the right instances can destroy cancer and in the wrong can cause bodily damage. The small doses used by the team, however, are highly unlikely to cause damage.

The results from this initial experiment were exciting, but Science for the Masses explained that much more testing will need to be done in order to truly prove Ce6’s night vision enhancing abilities. The next step for the team is to accurately measure the changes to the eye and create concrete scientific evidence to their findings.

“The first thing was just getting it out there,” Licina said. “It’s just another piece in the big understanding of how things work.”

Source: Licina G, Tibbetts J. A Review on Night Enhancement Eyedrops Using Chlorin e6.Science for the Masses. 2015.