15th April 2010, 12:02 PM
I read a book detailing why our visual range is what it is. Essentially, the rods and cones in our eyes are of a size that only that narrow band of wavelengths can register upon them. For us to be able to see far into the IR or UV spectrums would requires eyes that are either much larger, or rods and cones which would be so small that most visible light would be invisible to us. Even animals who can see into those spectrums do so only very slightly, and usually their entire visual range is shifted to compensate (a creature who sees UV would not register the color red, for example.
The sun emits more visible light than any other kind, so we got what is really most useful to us.
Fun fact: we can technically 'see' UV radiation with our skin, it's just that our brain does not represent the sensation in a visual manner. It would theoretically be possible to transmit all senses as visuals given a better understanding of how the sensory input is processed by the brain, though our eyes are a much higher fidelity input device than any other we possess. A visual representation of heat on the skin would just appear as a blur.
The sun emits more visible light than any other kind, so we got what is really most useful to us.
Fun fact: we can technically 'see' UV radiation with our skin, it's just that our brain does not represent the sensation in a visual manner. It would theoretically be possible to transmit all senses as visuals given a better understanding of how the sensory input is processed by the brain, though our eyes are a much higher fidelity input device than any other we possess. A visual representation of heat on the skin would just appear as a blur.
YOU CANNOT HIDE FOREVER
WE STAND AT THE DOOR
WE STAND AT THE DOOR