In case you missed it, the internet exploded last week when a pair of biohackers with the group Science for the Masses shared a report about night vision. Eyedrops with a chlorophyll analog called chlorin e6 seemed, they said, to induce temporary night vision. They had some creeptastic scifi-looking photos to boot. Gabriel Licina, the guy who risked his eyes, and his co-conspirator Jeffrey Tibbetts, looked a lot more normal when I Skyped them this week, though they did have the slightly dazed expressions of people overwhelmed by the internet’s limelight. Licina has done research in a university lab, and Tibbetts is a registered nurse. They aren’t lone geniuses who’ve invented crazy new science, but they aren’t total naifs stumbling around blindly. Still, it seems weird that anyone would feel compelled to dribble an untested substance into his eyes—but it’s hardly the only thing weird about this story. The Real Science Behind the Crazy Night Vision Eyedrops I think they nailed it later in the article:
Yep. It's "dirty" science. But Holy Cow! This could lead to other research and standard trial practice which could lead to a breakthrough. Night vision enhancement has the potential to become a very real and world-wide application for hundreds of activities - and not just for human usage, either. I would think the military would be very interested in what these guys have done. Dirty science - yep. But they might have accidently stumbled upon "something" in this visionary enhancement .... or a piece of this "something" that has confounded scientists for decades. After all, if Goodyear had not accidently discovered vulcanization of rubber through a fluke of errant process, where would the tire be today? Hopefully, there just might be a tiny bit of merit in this.... If so, the positive applications for this will be endless! nwlivewire
