Night Vision Sans Gadgets? Possible with Chlorophyll Like Chemical

Chlorophyll like chemical extracted from deep-sea fish can enable give humans night vision.

The chemical Chlorin e6 was injected into the conjunctiva of Gabriel Licinia who volunteered for the the biohack as part of Science for the Masses initiative in California. The chemical allowed Licinia to see up to 50 meters for a few hours in dark, reports Engadget.

Ce6 is known to amplify light and has been used to treat cancers in laser-assisted therapies. Its use in a normal can damage cells even under ambient light. Licinia was fitted with black contact lens to avoid excessive light.

"The light amplification properties of the Ce6 are used to use the energy from a low power light source to destroy cancerous cells with literal laser precision. The reaction creates oxygen species which induce apoptosis in tumor cells. This lead to the concerns about the mixture, as it would be possible that bright or even ambient daylight's amplified effect in the eye may harm the cells, potentially causing permanent damage," reads a paper on the experiment.

Testing saw Licinia identify people hidden amongst trees up to distances of 50 meters while control subjects had a 33 percent success rate. Licinia also identified shapes, letters and numbers in the dark, according to CNET.

Next morning, Licina's eyes resumed normal functioning and in 20 days no effects of the chemical remained.