Science for the Masses

Science for the Masses

More

Haven't backed any projects yet! 

Published on Aug 26, 2014

A thank you and a reminder.

Thanks for making us the most viewed lab note on experiment.com by an order of magnitude.Don't forget though, there are a pile of really cool and interesting projects here and you should check them...

Group 6 Copy 461
Published on Aug 25, 2014

Our Response to a Neuroscientist’s Rebuttal

I'm sure that many of our backers have seen that a rather interesting rebuttal to our current project was recently printed on Petapixel.http://petapixel.com/2014/08/25/retinal-neuroscien... Our res...

Group 6 Copy 874
Published on Aug 24, 2014

We demand more data!

Wow, what a crazy week!We were lucky enough to have a backer post our blog update on Reddit. I hear that the people swooped in and crashed the experiment.com website for a sec :)Better yet, getting...

Group 6 Copy 642
Published on Nov 11, 2013

Update: Soylent Purchase & Experiment Start Date

Dear Readers and Backers,We apologize for the long wait between updates! Rest assured thatwe have continued working hard on the NIR vision project, and are asdedicated as ever to opening up whole n...

Backers Only
Group 6 Copy 39
Published on Oct 28, 2013

Electroretinogram Setup and Procedure Part 3

Setting Up The Unit Initial setup of the device is to be done according to Olimex Documentation. Connect the EEG-SMT unit to the pc. Attach electrodes to the EEG-SMT unit as follows CH1+ will ...

Backers Only
Group 6 Copy 24
Published on Oct 28, 2013

Electroretinogram Setup and Procedure Part 2

EEG-SMT This is the EEG-SMT unit as purchased from Olimex. The unit is an inexpensive opensource EEG at home unit. Both software and hardware were designed by the OpenEEG project, and a good r...

Backers Only
Group 6 Copy 39
Published on Oct 28, 2013

Electroretinogram Setup and Procedure Part 1

An electroretinogram (ERG) is used as both a research tool and a diagnostic procedure that can detect certain retinal diseases. The retina is flooded with light and the resulting electrical activ...

Backers Only
Group 6 Copy 27
Published on Oct 17, 2013

Let's get this party started!

Thank you everyone! We are go, go, go! Thanks to all of you, we have met and exceeded the goal and now the funding is cleared. Time to get shopping.As backers, you will be getting posts of the hard...

Backers Only
Group 6 Copy 21
Published on Oct 12, 2013

Now the real work starts....

Thanks to the incredible support of our backers, our crowdfunding campaign has now come to a successful finish! This truly wouldn't have been possible without our sponsors' support. In fact, mo...

Backers Only
Group 6 Copy 9
Show more updates
Hi Alex. So here are a few papers to look at. The first two reference control levels of A1 vs. A2 while the last one talks about absorbtion both into the retina and the liver of mice. Sorry for the lack of page break between links. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4096526 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7097042 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3350062
Apr 15, 2015
Can we biologically extend the range of human vision into the near infrared?
View comment
Thanks man. Well, one of the things we've found is that to get to that point where you start taking A2 is just terribly trying on a person. We would like to test more, but I doubt we are going to find another group of people to eat VitA deficient food substitute for 3 months. However, if we get the chance, we'll drop you a line :)
Mar 20, 2015
Can we biologically extend the range of human vision into the near infrared?
View comment
That's a great question and the answer is a little odd. See, nobody is blue/green colorblind. It doesn't really happen. There are instances where you mistake blue for another color but not where you mix up blue and green. So we have no idea. For your other question, the A2 definitely transports better without the A1 present, that is why we did the A1 restricted diet. There are a lot of things we discovered with this project, we would like to test them out as well.
Mar 20, 2015
Can we biologically extend the range of human vision into the near infrared?
View comment
The experiment isn't complete yet, Regardless, A2 is something you buy from a chemical supply store, not a normal supplement store.
Aug 25, 2014
Can we biologically extend the range of human vision into the near infrared?
View comment
Once we finish the tests, we will be attempting to publish in an open source journal. If that doesn't pan out, we will licence the protocol under creative commons, so one way or another, you will be able to try it yourself if you would like.
Aug 23, 2014
Can we biologically extend the range of human vision into the near infrared?
View comment
The darkness adaption period is 4 minutes. We've found that Anything shorter than that, and we are still getting residual activity in the eye. We try to do the testing at the same time every day which is roughly around noon. No one has noticed any loss of vision or sensitivity since the administration of the A2.
Aug 22, 2014
Can we biologically extend the range of human vision into the near infrared?
View comment
We'll be adding more data soon. We just got really excited and decided to share.
Aug 21, 2014
Can we biologically extend the range of human vision into the near infrared?
View comment
Subject C did not follow the protocol for nutrient consumption that we originally developed and decided to not eat. The resulting lack of nutrients and restrictions placed by being a research subject caused some personal issues that made the data collected invalid. Additionally, concerns were expressed that the restrictive diet was too restrictive and non protocol food was consumed, making further collection useless. Subject C is back on a normal diet and feeling much better. The data collected can not be added to the final results as the protocol was not followed. All of our other subjects have been following the protocol and have shown no signs of these issues. The data for all the other subjects is currently looking exactly as it should, and other then light sensitivity, there seems to be no issues.
May 28, 2014
Can we biologically extend the range of human vision into the near infrared?
View comment
Unfortunately, all of our test subjects are on a very strict diet. This includes no caffeine, nicotine, or other recreationals. Altering the protocol would introduce another variable which may skew the results.
May 13, 2014
Can we biologically extend the range of human vision into the near infrared?
View comment
That's a pretty cool synthesis method. Unfortunately,l it would, as Peyton predicted, wreak havoc on your body. We are hoping that this current project will allow us to get support to continue looking into other, more biologically robust ways to affect the A1/A2 metabolic pathway.
Nov 17, 2013
Can we biologically extend the range of human vision into the near infrared?
View comment
Glad you approve :) we know this isn't all what some would consider "high-end" equipment, but it is robust, and meets our standards of being within the budgetary limitations of almost any citizen scientist.
Oct 29, 2013
Can we biologically extend the range of human vision into the near infrared?
View comment
So, in answer to your question and the the previous comment, we are looking at the near infrared. While this spans roughly 750-1400nm, we are expecting to see something more in the range off 700-900nm. This is within the specs of the naturally occurring animal models that we are basing this research off of. The long range infra red that you are talking about is commonly called thermal infrared, or heat. The human skin is a very powerful sensing device and has it's own subset of nerve endings just for sensing heat. Areas of the body that have thinner, more sensitive skin like the face, are quite adept at noticing temperature changes.
Oct 08, 2013
Can we biologically extend the range of human vision into the near infrared?
View comment
Show more comments