Imagine being a snake that is able to see in the dark with the help of infrared light vision. Then imagine that you are a human but with the eye feature qualities of seeing infrared light. What would you do with this “power”? This could seem unreal in the past. However it is no longer impossible with the heap of engineered contact licences that allow humans to see infrared light and have a vision in the darkness.
Before talking about these innovations. Let’s dive into eye features of humans and some animals
Human and animals vision
We as human beings are impressed by how the vision of other mammals and animals are developed. They see colours that mankind cannot see.
There are seven types of electromagnetic (EM) waves, made of light and radiation, which are part of something called the electromagnetic spectrum.
Humans can only see “Visible light”, but there are lots of other types like radio waves, ultraviolet lights and infrared (IR) lights, which we can not see unlike some animals.
To be specific, color vision varies widely: humans have good trichromatic (three-cone) vision for red, green, blue, but many mammals (dogs, cats) are dichromats, seeing blues and yellows; birds, bees, and mantis shrimp see even more colors, including UV light, with some (mantis shrimp) having up to 16 cones, while some fish see only black and white. This difference stems from different types and numbers of color-detecting cone cells in the retina, influenced by evolutionary needs like finding ripe fruit (humans) or navigating dim light (dogs).
While humans see “visible light” – light with wavelengths between 400 and 700 nanometers – some animals like snakes, bats, and mosquitoes have evolved to detect infrared (IR) light, often using specialized organs (pits) to sense heat for hunting warm-blooded prey, whereas humans rely on technology like thermal cameras or goggles to perceive infrared energy as heat or images
Most forms of infrared energy can be seen and measured only with the use of specialized equipment, such as infrared cameras and telescopes or night-vision goggles. These technologies use infrared waves to measure the heat released, or radiated, by an object. As the temperature of an object increases, the movement of its atoms increases and the object radiates more infrared energy. The infrared energy radiated by the object can be detected and then converted into an electronic signal used to produce a visual or thermal image.
However recent research work shows that these devices will no longer be needed due to lenses that were invented by scientists…
How do the “super-vision” contact lenses work?
Just recently in 2025 a collaborative team of Chinese scientists from the University of Science and technologies of China (USTC), Fudan University and the MIT Medical School have created a certain infrared (IR) lens that allows mankind to see infrared lights without any other technologies and separate equipment. Their invention and research work led by professors Tian Wue and Dr. Yuqian Ma published in the journal Cell in May 2025. This scientific breakthrough uses special engineered nanoparticles in soft lenses to allow a person who wears them to see infrared (IR) light, offering “Super – Vision” for night vision applications. Near-infrared light, with wavelengths between 700 and 2,500 nanometers, excels at penetrating biological tissue with minimal radiation damage.
Nanoparticles are tiny microscopic structures that are made up of a few hundred atoms. They are extremely tiny particles, typically 1 to 100 nanometers in size.
Previously, scientists in the team developed a nanomaterial that, when injected into animal retinas, enabled mammals to see near-infrared light naturally. Since retinal injections aren’t practical for humans, they started to design a wearable, non-invasive alternative using soft contact lenses.
In these infrared lenses, nanoparticles absorb near-infrared light and upconvert it into visible range. In previous work, the team had shown that these nanoparticles can produce infrared vision in mice when injected into the retina, but to create a less-invasive solution they combined the nanoparticles with the nontoxic polymers that are used to make standard soft contact lenses.
By carefully matching the optical properties of the nanoparticles to the polymer material, the researchers produced lenses containing a high concentration of nanoparticles—about 7% by weight—while still maintaining a transparency of more than 90% across most visible wavelengths.
In tests, humans were able to recognize patterns, letters and flashing infrared signals in the dark. And the infrared lenses work even better with closed eyes, because the infrared light can easily penetrate the eyelids and image generation is not disturbed by normal visible light.
Final Words
The non-invasive technology has potential applications in medical imaging, information security, rescue operations and treating color blindness. Unlike night vision goggles, the lenses, capable of enhancing vision in low-visibility conditions such as fog or dust, require no power source and provide a more natural visual experience.
While still at the proof-of-concept stage, the researchers believe the technology could eventually help people with visual impairments and revolutionize how humans interact with the invisible light spectrum.
“Our research opens up the potential for noninvasive wearable devices to give people super-vision,” says senior author Tian Xue, a neuroscientist at the University of Science and Technology of China.
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