Science? Dude Evolves Cat-Like Night-Vision? And... Self-Guiding Bullet

Right before the Sweet Meteor of Death, I'm calling this Chinese kid as my tribe's number one draft pick.

According to a news reel from China, a young boy there possesses the ability to see in the dark. Like a Siamese cat's, his sky-blue eyes flash neon green when illuminated by a flashlight, and his night vision is good enough to enable him to fill out questionnaires while sitting in a pitch black room — or so say the reporters who visited Nong Yousui in his hometown of Dahua three years ago.

...

Night vision is made possible by a layer of cells, called the tapetum lucidum, in the eyes of cats and other nocturnal animals. This thin layer is a "retroreflector" — when a beam of light hits it, it reflects the light directly back along its incoming path. The reflected beam constructively interferes with the incoming light beam, amplifying the overall signal that hits the retina and enabling the animal to see in very low-light conditions. Retroreflection also causes cat eyes to flash when they are lit upon at night, and experts say Nong's eyes, if they are truly catlike, should do the same.

And do they? I dunno, the video supposedly shows that glowing. I don't see it myself.

And finally, Gene Simmons' self-guided bullet from the old Michael Crichton/Tom Selleck movie Runaway.

Now, "self-guided" isn't entirely accurate. You have to keep a laser beam shining on the target. But if you manage that, the bullet will seek the laser's reflection.

Each self-guided bullet is around 4 inches in length. At the tip is an optical sensor, that can detect a laser beam being shone on a far-off target. Actuators inside the bullet get intel from the bullet’s sensor, and then “steer tiny fins that guide the bullet to the target.” The bullet can self-correct its navigational path 30 times a second, all while flying more than twice the speed of sound.

Thanks to BrotherBewapitis and CDR M.

Oh, and this was linked as an aside in the cat-eye thing: The "Forbidden Colors" your eyes can't see, Red-Green and Blue-Yellow.

posted by Ace at 01:52 PM

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