How technology is helping us see the unseeable
There’s so much more to life than what we can see with the naked eye.
We’re unable to see — or at least register — certain things that happen right before us, because they happen too fast. Sometimes, we miss out on subtle colour transitions and contrasts that could help us see more clearly and make a more informed split-second decision.
Occasionally, our slightly narrow field of view prevents us from seeing something happening on our periphery.
And that’s just to name a few.
But in recent years, new technologies have been developed to help us see some things we might otherwise not. Here are five devices and apps that use these technologies.
The Prizm lenses use a unique technology — basically ultra-precise colour tuning — that enhances the detail of what you’re seeing. This in turn enhances your experience in a positive way, whatever that experience may be. The lenses see things in different ways than the naked eye. Landscapes that would generally be washed out, dull or flat while looking through other lenses (or no lenses at all) are enhanced to become more defined, vibrant and vivid.
While the lenses are designed to enhance vision in any environment, they’re especially great when playing sport. The lenses sharpen your sight so you can see more clearly and react more quickly; they enhance detail recognition to help you spot what you need to see; and they improve your peripheral vision (especially when it comes to tracking moving objects).
2. Seek Thermal thermal imaging
We can, of course, feel heat, but we obviously can’t see it with our naked eye. That’s where Seek Thermal’s thermal cameras that attach to your smart phone come in. The cameras work with an app to show you thermal activity, which is to say they enable you to see heat and where it’s coming from.
You can use the imaging capabilities to help scout, track and recover wildlife, locate air leaks and all kinds of other uses when you want to detect the temperature of an object or find where heat is present. You can even use it to figure out the temperature of a food and drink, so you can make sure you get the coldest beverage available from the cooler or refrigerator.
3. Dark Sky
The naked eye can sometimes predict when a storm is coming. We can, of course, see cloudy skies, flashes of lighting and other signs of inclement weather. We can’t, however, see enough to know for sure that it’s going to rain, snow or sleet, or whether a tornado is going to form above us.
But Dark Sky can. It’s a hyperlocal weather forecasting app that uses new, innovative technology to give you down-to-the-minute weather forecasts — for precisely where you’re standing. If it’s going to start raining where you’re standing within 11 minutes, the app will tell you. It’ll also tell you forecasts for further along in your week, which you obviously can’t see with the naked eye.
The app also shows you what storm patterns look like in meteorological radar form — so you can see what a storm looks like from satellites above. 4. LifeScanner
Imagine for a second the number of organisms surrounding you during any part of your day — especially if you’re exploring the great outdoors. Now think about how few of them you can actually see during any given moment. Chances are, you don’t even know most of the species around you exist or are present.
That’s where the LifeScanner app comes in. It enables you to use your smart phone to see what species scientists have found in different parts of the world — both visible to the naked eye and otherwise. It’s great for education and exploration.
5. RF-Capture
Our eyes can’t see through walls, but the RF-Capture can. Developed by researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, the device captures human figures through walls and occlusions by transmitting wireless signals.
According to the researchers’ website, the device "reconstructs a human figure by analyzing the [wireless] signals’ reflections. The researchers say it can know who the person behind a wall is, trace a person’s handwriting in air from behind a wall and determine the movements a person behind a wall is making.
According to Popular Science, the device works by relaying a radio signal through a wireless transmitter. The device’s receivers then pick up the signal reflected back by a hidden body, and the data collected from the signal helps determine the silhouette of the body on the other side. The device can even distinguish between different people, and can track motion and posture.
Discover more about Oakley Prizm technology and see the full range of eyewear here
