Just found out that birds see in ultraviolet.
I have zero idea what ultraviolet is or even what that means other than UV rays but that means nothing to me.
It seems like it would be easier to spot birds in trees or fields if I could see in ultraviolet maybe similar to how we have heat cameras or night vision goggles.
Is there an ultraviolet camera or scope or something similar?
In: Biology
The electromagnetic spectrum is an infinitely large range of frequencies, a small slice of which includes our visible light frequencies. https://www.miniphysics.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/electromagneticspectrum.jpg
Now, just a bit further along toward the red end of the spectrum is infra red, and in the other direction – just beyond the blues and violets of the visible spectrum we have ultraviolet. If you keep going in that direction you hit X ray and gamma ray frequencies. If you continue past infra red you start hitting microwave and radio frequencies.
The cone cells in your eyes are tuned to detect visible wavelengths (that’s what defines them as visible!). But other detectors can detect at other frequencies – we know that, because we frequently send and receive radio signals, we use X-rays toimage broken bones, and we rely on microwaves being absorbed by water to heat our food in microwave ovens. The vision detectors in other species can be sensitive to other frequencies of the electromagnetic spectrum, so they ahve different visible ranges. This often includes vision in the UV range.
We can certainly (and do!) build detectors that allow us to visualise the UV part of the spectrum. In fact the landsat earth observation missions have a detector specifically for observing that part of the spectrum – band 1 in the illustration here https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/sites/landsat/files/2016/10/all_Landsat_bands.png
There’s also lots of good scientific applications for observing UV – for example we can use UV markers to track the growth or motion of things. A quick google will reveal a wide array of UV cameras.
Of course, the only way we can visualise it is by transcribing the UV light into our visible spectrum. So, for example, in the image below they have mapped the UV image to “yellow” on the left hand image. What you’re seeing as yellow, a bee would see as UV.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/yVDi4GVdj0w/maxresdefault.jpg
Yes. [We have UV cameras.](https://youtu.be/V9K6gjR07Po) They aren’t like thermal cameras, as unlike far-IR, nothing nearby glows in UV. Certainly not birds. It does, however, give us one more tool with which to observe our world and study distant objects in space.
Yes there are ultraviolet cameras and pollinators including hummingbirds see flowers totally differently to how we view them, giving a clear direction to where the nectar is located. https://laidbackgardener.blog/tag/flowers-seen-in-ultraviolet-light/
Sure. But you won’t see it as UV. We don’t know how to add new senses to humans like that. The tool would have to convert the UV into something you can already see – so red or green or blue.
Yes, you can get cameras that will pick up and display UV. A bit of searching found this phone attachment, intended for people who want to check their sunscreen (sunscreen has to keep UV light off your skin, so it shows up strongly on a UV camera)
https://sunscreenr.com/products/sunscreenr-uv-camera-for-android?variant=7297425539107
I’m sure there are better options out there too.
Although you don’t even need a camera to see UV, you just need to get your corneas removed and replaced with an old-school replacement! Your blue-light receptors can actually detect UV light, but your lens blocks the light from entering your eye. People with bad cataracts sometimes get their lenses removed and replaced with artificial lenses. If those don’t block UV light (which was frequently the case in decades past) then people who had that surgery could see UV light! Note that letting UV light into your eye might have some negative side effects though, so this isn’t really the best solution. Just get a camera.
Actually there is a surgery that makes you see UV: certain old crystalline lens prostheses allow the recipient to see it. It’s a shitty superpower: reportedly, it looks like a washed out blue, you don’t see anything interesting with it, and it makes your retina degrade and you eventually go blind. That’s why modern crystalline lens prostheses filter out UV.
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