Late in life, Claude Monet had surgery to remove the lens of his left eye as a remedy for cataracts, and found that as the lens was no longer blocking them,
he could now see ultraviolet light.* When Alek Komarnitsky, engineer and self professed geek,
had the natural lens replaced in one of his eyes due to cataracts, he found that he, too could see UV. Naturally, he decided to test the limits of his newfound ability, and to show others
what it's like to have ultraviolet vision.
(*via Kottke)
posted by ocherdraco
on Apr 17, 2012 -
39 comments
Ever notice how people texting at night have that eerie blue glow? Or wake up ready to write down the Next Great Idea, and get blinded by your computer screen? During the day, computer screens look good—they're designed to look like the sun. But, at 9PM, 10PM, or 3AM, you probably shouldn't be looking at the sun.
F.lux fixes this: it makes the color of your computer's display adapt to the time of day, warm at night and like sunlight during the day. It's even possible that you're staying up too late because of your computer. You could use f.lux because it makes you sleep better, or you could just use it just because it makes your computer look better.
[more inside]
posted by crunchland
on Jun 22, 2010 -
65 comments
The Nature of Light and Color in the Open Air "Moreover, this book is written for all those who love Nature; for the young people going out into the wide world and gathering together round the camp-fire; for the painter who admires but does not understand the light and colour of the landscape; for those living in the country; for all who delight in travelling; and also for town-dwellers, for whom, even in the noise and clamour of our dark streets, the manifestations of Nature remain." - Marcel Minnaert
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posted by jquinby
on Dec 23, 2008 -
17 comments
*relativity by Drzach & Suchy. "Our work explores the relativity of perception and the dependence of appearance on the surroundings. It illustrates the fact that the message communicated to the observer can dramatically change with varying external conditions. Multiple images are encoded within a single physical object — a white panel, which displays the separate images under appropriate lighting conditions. The underlying principle of our technique is based on a simple observation: the shadow cast by an object depends not only on the object itself, but also on the light; therefore
the same object under changing lighting conditions can totally change its appearance."
[Via]
posted by homunculus
on Aug 13, 2008 -
11 comments
Light makes a comeback. “New technologies — more sophisticated imaging techniques, fluorescent molecules that act as beacons of light in the cell, and the computing power to gather and stitch together multiple images and create videos from high-powered microscopes — make it possible to harness one of light’s key advantages: gentleness. Unlike higher-resolution techniques, light microscopes can image biological structures without killing them or chemically fixing them. At Harvard, the resurgence of light microscopy is making it possible to see structures and events that have never before been seen in the context of living cells and organisms.” Also don't miss the
video samples of “in vivo” imagining.
posted by Frankieist
on Apr 19, 2008 -
12 comments
Apparently, the new black is... really, really black. "Researchers in New York reported this month that they have created a paper-thin material that absorbs 99.955 percent of the light that hits it, making it by far the darkest substance ever made -- about 30 times as dark as the government's current standard for blackest black." But what possible benefit to society could come from this blacker than black substance? Why,
invisibility cloaks, of course!
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posted by willie11
on Feb 20, 2008 -
53 comments
John Lennon’s lighthouse. He said, ‘Well, actually, I invited you because I wanted to know if you can build the lighthouse in my garden,’ and I said: ‘Oh, dear, no, no. It’s just a conceptual idea. I don’t know how to build anything.’
Yoko makes a dream of John's come true in Iceland. It’s
geothermal.
Amy Goodman's take on the subject. And, of course,
video.
posted by LeLiLo
on Oct 17, 2007 -
14 comments
