As if we were a gusiluz, as if, paraphrasing Paulo Coelho, we all shine with our own light, the body of a human being emits visible light and the intensity of the light rises and falls throughout the day (this visible light differs from infrared radiation, an invisible form of light, which comes from heat bodily).
But why don't we see it? Because it is 1,000 times less intense than the levels to which our naked eyes are sensitive.
All creatures do it
In fact, we are not facing a human superpower: Virtually all living creatures emit very weak light, which is believed to be a byproduct of biochemical reactions involving free radicals.
To learn more about this weak visible light, Japanese researchers used extraordinarily sensitive cameras capable of detecting single photons. Five healthy male volunteers in their 20s were placed bare-chested in front of cameras in complete darkness in light-proof rooms for 20 minutes every three hours from 10 am to 10 pm for three days.
The researchers found that the body's brightness rose and fell throughout the day, with its lowest point at 10 a.m. and its peak at 4 p.m. These findings suggest that there is light emission related to body clocks, probably due to how our metabolic rates fluctuate throughout the day.
Besides, The faces shone brighter than the rest of the body.. This may be because faces are more tanned than the rest of the body, as they are exposed to more sunlight. The pigment behind skin color, melanin, has fluorescent components that could amplify the body's tiny light production.
Since this faint light is related to the body's metabolism, this finding suggests that cameras that can detect the faint emissions could help detect medical conditions.
Further proof that most of what surrounds us is invisible to us, and that we must use science, and also the measuring instruments created thanks to technology, to establish models that allow us to get a little closer to the pale reflection of reality:
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The news
We all emit light, but a thousand times less than what the human eye is capable of capturing.
was originally published in
Xataka Science
by
Sergio Parra
.