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Graphene Contact Lenses Let You See in the Dark
Thanks to graphene contact lenses, we all might be able to experience soon the super hero ability of having night vision. According to Zhaohui Zhong, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Michigan, contact lenses one day in the near future will be able to register the entire infrared spectrum as well as visible and ultraviolet light.
There have been previous attempts to use graphene on contact lenses for this purpose, but they were unsuccessful, because of graphene’s insensitivity to certain parts of the light spectrum.
Zhong and the rest of his research team from Michigan solved this problem by creating a sandwich of layers. There would be an insulating barrier between two extremely thin slices of graphene, and an electrical current would then be sent through the bottom layer. The design would, according to Zhong, be “super-thin,” and it could, he added: “be stacked on a contact lens or integrated with a cell phone.”
What use would anyone have for graphene contact lenses?
Why would anyone want a pair of graphene contact lenses, you might well ask; just how useful would having night vision be, unless you were in the military?
There are many, many reasons why a person would want to have graphene contact lenses. They would be very useful to hunters of fishermen at night, policemen, firemen, and any other job where people have to sometimes work in almost total darkness. Ghost hunters like Zak Bagans, Nick Groff, and Aaron Goodwin, of the TV series “Ghost Adventures,” would love using this sort of technology.
The graphene contact lenses would be great for use by everyone else who has ever stumbled over a child’s toy in the middle of the night, or who has had to walk back to his/her car after a late-night movie or concert. They could also be useful for driving at night in places where there are not lit up by street lights.
How are graphene contact lenses better than current night-vision devices?
Graphene contact lenses are better than current night-vision devices because they are not nearly as bulky; they don’t require cooling equipment so that the heat detectors won’t get confused by the heat radiation that they, themselves, emit; and they can do “the same thing by using only a few layers of the atom-thick material,” according to a report in the Business Standard.
Current night-vision technology involves capturing the light spectrum’s infrared portion. The infrared portion is the heat that objects, humans, and animals emit, as opposed to light reflected off of objects.The best night vision technology works by capturing the infrared portion of the light spectrum. Infrared is the part that is emitted as heat by objects, instead of reflected as light.
Other Uses for the Graphene Technology
Zhong mentioned other possible uses for the new graphene technology. For instance, he suggested that it could be used by doctors to monitor the blood flow of a patient without the necessity of moving them or subjecting them to being scanned. Also, art historians could be able to detect layers of paint and possibly entire paintings hidden underneath the surface of paintings.
Graphene contact lenses are just one of many uses that scientists and researchers have been developing. Some others include being able to charge your smartphone up in just 5 seconds; clumping together radioactive waste, making cleanup of it much easier and safer; in the manufacture of tennis racquets; creating filters to make even salt water drinkable; and it could be used to create super-thin, unbreakable touchscreens for your iPhones.
The potential uses for graphene are almost limitless, but what can beat the sensation you could have wearing graphene contact lenses that would enable you to see at night? One day you might be able to do just that, and unleash your inner Batman or Batwoman!
Source: http://nanotechportal.blogspot.ca/2014/05/graphene-contact-lenses-let-you-see-in.html
/ About us
Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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