See at Night Like "Predator" with Graphene Contact Lenses

"Graphene could make it possible to build ultra-thin, flexible thermal sensors for built-in night vision technology — just like that lethal alien in the Predator franchise," notes Gizmodo. "Modern night-vision equipment exploits the generation of heat by living bodies by focusing the thermal emissions with a special lens. The signal is then transmitted to IR detectors, which create a detailed pattern based on variations in temperature. That so-called thermogram is then turned into electrical impulses, which a computer analyses and sends to the display. The end result: the user sees that data represented as various colours, depending on the intensity of the IR emission." Read more.

Doubtful that Blueberries Improve Night Vision

"Blueberries are super stars among health food advocates, who tout the fruit for not only promoting heart health, better memory and digestion, but also for improving night vision," starts the Science Daily post. "Scientists have taken a closer look at this latter claim and have found reason to doubt that the popular berry helps most healthy people see better in the dark." Read more.

Alcohol Impairs Night Vision

"Ethanol in the tear-film is one of the causes: it covers the surface of the eye, disturbs the outer layer and favours evaporation of the aqueous content of the tear, deteriorating the optical quality of the image we see. The deterioration in vision is significantly greater in subjects with breath alcohol content over 0.25mg/litre, the legal limit for driving recommended by the World Health Organization," notes Science Daily. "A study conducted by the University of Granada has demonstrated that alcohol consumption markedly impairs night-vision because it increases the perception of halos -- luminous circles -- and other visual night-time disturbances." Read more.

Univ. of MI Develops New Nigh Vision CLs

“It may seem like the stuff from spy and superhero movies but scientists have created "the first room-temperature light detector that can sense the full infrared spectrum" which, according to researchers at the University of Michigan, can be made so thin that it can be easily stacked on night vision contact lenses,” reports Gizmodo. “Back in 2011 some speculated that Seal Team Six used night vision contact lenses in the operation that killed Osama Bin Laden. Those rumors were never substantiated, but this invention is very real—the research has been published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology by a team at the University of Michigan's College of Engineering led by Zhaohui Zhong and Ted Norris.” Read more.

Night-Vision Contacts Are Seen in the Distance

"If you love the freedom that contacts provide but wish the lenses could do more to enhance your night-hunting, a breakthrough at the University of Michigan may make thermal-seeking contacts a reality. I’ll never miss prey in my peripheral again," notes GeekoSystem. "In news that is sure to rock the vampiric community, Phys.org is reporting today that in a recent Nature Nanotechnology paper, professors Zhaohui Zhong and Gerard A. Mourou announced the first room-temperature light detector that can be 'stacked on a contact lens or integrated with a cell phone.' Prior to the duo’s discovery, heat-seeking vision required a combination of cumbersome technologies in order to detect near, mid and far infrared radiation all at once. Graphene--a single layer of carbon atoms--catches the entire spectrum, but is too small to capture more than 2.3% of all light." Read more.

New Night Vision Program from the CAOOA

"The Canadian Association of Optometrists and the Opticians Association of Canada [CAOOA] have launched a program called “Drive Away The Glare” to raise awareness of the problem and that there are solutions," goes a post from The Post and Mail. "A recent global study to determine the hierarchy of vision-corrected needs, called NSIGHT (Needs, Symptoms, Incidence, Global Health Trends) revealed that roughly half of all eyeglass and contact lens wearers experience halos and glare more than three times a week. It found that more than 80 per cent of people who experienced halos and glare found them bothersome." Read more.