For some the idea of being able to see at night with your own night vision seems like something out of a comic book. While others may be thinking if there are people around today who can do this already. When you think about night vision you wonder about the animal kingdom and the big cats who track down their prey in pitch darkness. But what allows them to do this while we cant?
We have all thought about how great it would be to be able to see in the dark although it is usually when we are fumbling around in the darkness looking for a light after a power cut. Most people assume that we have no night vision capabilities at all, but this is simply because it doesnt work in the same way that it does for most animals.
The easy answer to the question of human night vision is that it takes a while to kick in and especially when you compare us to felines. About 30 minutes is the usual time for us to get our maximum sight in the darkness. This is because a chemical reaction is required in order for our eyes to adjust and this evolves the special rods in our eyes actually becoming bleached in order to absorb more natural light.
For these somewhat magical rods to work there does need to be some type of light available, eg the stars. In this respect we are similar to many night hunting animals in that they cant function in zero light either. However the way in which the common house cat for example can use the light available is quite different to us. They are able to re-use light by channelling it to the front of their retina after it hits the back of their eye. This is why when you car lights shine on a cat at night their eyes start to glow.
Is it possible to become better at viewing objects in the dark? During the first war in Iraq a group of British specialist forces were sent behind enemy lines on reconnaissance. Instead of using bulky night vision glasses they relied only on their own natural night vision which they had been using for years. They reported back after the mission that they were able to see almost perfectly after about 60 minutes of complete darkness.
There are some problems with human night vision though in that we can lose it very quickly if we see a bright light and the adjustment process in our eyes will have to start all over again. To beat this problem many people close one eye when needed eg for reading a map or any other activity that requires a bright light source.
You may be thinking of people who work constantly in low light become better at adapting to low light than the rest of us. It is said that if your eyes are constantly having to adjust to darkness that they become quicker at adapting and reacting to low light. In this way it is similar to someone who trains their muscles daily in order to get stronger.
Its also thought that people who work in darkness frequently have eyes that can ajust to the darkness faster than others. This happens with repeated changing of the rods in the eyes as in a way they are like a muscle and the more you exercise this ability the better you can get at it.
Its not wrong to say that in most scenarios we are no competition for the night hunters of the animal world. However we do have a great capacity to see in the darkness if we are prepared to give it time to work.
We have all thought about how great it would be to be able to see in the dark although it is usually when we are fumbling around in the darkness looking for a light after a power cut. Most people assume that we have no night vision capabilities at all, but this is simply because it doesnt work in the same way that it does for most animals.
The easy answer to the question of human night vision is that it takes a while to kick in and especially when you compare us to felines. About 30 minutes is the usual time for us to get our maximum sight in the darkness. This is because a chemical reaction is required in order for our eyes to adjust and this evolves the special rods in our eyes actually becoming bleached in order to absorb more natural light.
For these somewhat magical rods to work there does need to be some type of light available, eg the stars. In this respect we are similar to many night hunting animals in that they cant function in zero light either. However the way in which the common house cat for example can use the light available is quite different to us. They are able to re-use light by channelling it to the front of their retina after it hits the back of their eye. This is why when you car lights shine on a cat at night their eyes start to glow.
Is it possible to become better at viewing objects in the dark? During the first war in Iraq a group of British specialist forces were sent behind enemy lines on reconnaissance. Instead of using bulky night vision glasses they relied only on their own natural night vision which they had been using for years. They reported back after the mission that they were able to see almost perfectly after about 60 minutes of complete darkness.
There are some problems with human night vision though in that we can lose it very quickly if we see a bright light and the adjustment process in our eyes will have to start all over again. To beat this problem many people close one eye when needed eg for reading a map or any other activity that requires a bright light source.
You may be thinking of people who work constantly in low light become better at adapting to low light than the rest of us. It is said that if your eyes are constantly having to adjust to darkness that they become quicker at adapting and reacting to low light. In this way it is similar to someone who trains their muscles daily in order to get stronger.
Its also thought that people who work in darkness frequently have eyes that can ajust to the darkness faster than others. This happens with repeated changing of the rods in the eyes as in a way they are like a muscle and the more you exercise this ability the better you can get at it.
Its not wrong to say that in most scenarios we are no competition for the night hunters of the animal world. However we do have a great capacity to see in the darkness if we are prepared to give it time to work.
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