| You may have wondered at some point or another if | | | | specialist forces were sent behind enemy lines on |
| one day we will be able to see in the dark like some | | | | reconnaissance. Instead of using bulky night vision |
| animals. Or maybe you have thought to yourself if | | | | glasses they relied only on their own natural night vision |
| some people have this ability today. When we | | | | which they had been using for years. They reported |
| compare ourselves to animals who can see in the | | | | back after the mission that they were able to see |
| dark what makes them different from us? Its an | | | | almost perfectly after about 60 minutes of complete |
| interesting query but one with no easy solution. | | | | darkness. |
| We have all thought about how great it would be to | | | | There are one or two downsides to human night |
| be able to see in the dark although it is usually when | | | | vision. The main one is that if you encounter a bright |
| we are fumbling around in the darkness looking for a | | | | light unexpectedly you will almost immediately lose |
| light after a power cut. Most people assume that we | | | | your ability to see at night. This is because the reaction |
| have no night vision capabilities at all, but this is simply | | | | that takes place can reverse much more quickly that it |
| because it doesnt work in the same way that it does | | | | takes to create in the first place. For this reason some |
| for most animals. | | | | people only use one eye when viewing a bright light so |
| The simple fact is that humans do actually have a | | | | they always have one night ready eye. |
| reasonable level of night vision it just takes around half | | | | You may be thinking of people who work constantly in |
| an hour for it to start to work properly. This is because | | | | low light become better at adapting to low light than |
| there is a chemical reaction that is required to take | | | | the rest of us. It is said that if your eyes are constantly |
| place in our eyes in order for us to see much better in | | | | having to adjust to darkness that they become quicker |
| the dark. There are rods in everyones eyes called | | | | at adapting and reacting to low light. In this way it is |
| Rhodopsin and these actually change color in low light | | | | similar to someone who trains their muscles daily in |
| to help you see better. | | | | order to get stronger. |
| For these somewhat magical rods to work there does | | | | Some experts have also suggested that people who |
| need to be some type of light available, eg the stars. In | | | | work constantly in low light or darkness are able to |
| this respect we are similar to many night hunting | | | | adjust more easily to different light conditions. Because |
| animals in that they cant function in zero light either. | | | | of the repeated use of the chemical rods in that they |
| However the way in which the common house cat for | | | | become better at adapting to light changes in much |
| example can use the light available is quite different to | | | | the same away as an athlete can hone their muscles. |
| us. They are able to re-use light by channelling it to the | | | | We can all agree that when it comes to moving |
| front of their retina after it hits the back of their eye. | | | | around quickly at night we really cant compete with |
| This is why when you car lights shine on a cat at night | | | | the top feline predators who can stalk their prey from |
| their eyes start to glow. | | | | hundreds of meters away. However we do have an |
| Is it possible to become better at viewing objects in | | | | amazing aptitude to see in the darkness and most |
| the dark? During the first war in Iraq a group of British | | | | people still dont realise that they have it. |