Can You Have Eyes Like Superman?
By: Erikka Innes
Tags: Gadgets, Humor, Science, Comics, Technology

Can You Have Eyes Like Superman?

StockSnap, Pixabay

Superman is famous for his incredible vision, which consists of x-ray, heat, telescopic, and microscopic vision as well as (ready?) infrared vision for seeing in the dark, and the ability to see into the electromagnetic spectrum. It’s kind of a lot for one set of eyes, but that’s why he’s Superman. However, it’s been awhile since Superman’s vision was dreamed up by writer Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. There have been some advances in technology. Prompting me to wonder ‘is Superman’s vision possible?’ Is there technology out there that could gift someone with this incredible set of eyeball abilities? Let’s find out.

X-Ray vision

I’ll start with the x-ray vision. We should begin with a good definition of what it is, and for that I turn to the Superman Wiki. The Superman Wiki states:

“X-Ray Vision is a term that describes the ability to see through solid objects. Kryptonians, Daxamites and Martians are among those who possess this sense. The method by which this is possible is unclear. In most cases, the ability can more accurately be described as ‘see-through vision’ since what the viewer sees contains more information than what an X-ray scan can provide.”

The definition gets a little bit tricky, because Superman’s X-ray vision is thwarted by the same thing that thwarts x-rays — namely, lead. The Superman Wiki calls this out, referencing the TV series Smallville, where Clark says “Sometimes I can see through things, other times it’s like an X-ray.” Superman’s vision being like an X-ray is exploited in “To Laugh and Die in Metropolis.” In this story, the Joker kidnaps Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and Perry White. He tells Superman that he’s placed each one of them in a lead coffin that Superman must find within 30 minutes, or they die. Superman realizes the Joker is lying and that he’s hidden the three hostages inside a lead-lined train car.

If Superman’s vision is a combination of seeing through things and working like an X-ray, it’s harder to describe how it works, but I’ll give it a try. If we ask Mark Changizi, a former postdoctoral scholar from Caltech, he argues that we evolved to have X-ray vision. That’s right — you already sort of have X-ray vision if you’re talking about seeing through things. Having your eyes set in the front of your head allows you to see around objects. In her article “Scientists Find Our Eyes Evolved for ‘X-Ray’ Vision,” Kathy Svitil describes a way you can test this for yourself:

“…hold a pen vertically and look at something far beyond it. If you first close one eye, and then the other, you’ll see that in each case the pen blocks your view. If you open both eyes, however, you can see through the pen to the world behind it.”

The article goes on to explain Changizi’s view that x-ray vision is helpful for hunting, running from predators, and maneuvering through dense foliage. It’s an interesting point, but probably if you’re reading this you were hoping to read about actually seeing through a solid object, not necessarily around one.

The lady with X-ray vision

There was at one time a woman who claimed to have X-ray vision. A lady from Russia named Demkina said that around age 10, she began to be able to see through people’s bodies and view their organs. She called it switching between regular and medical vision. With her medical vision, she saw issues that people were having. People began to go to her for readings and in some cases trust her medical judgment over those of doctors. Eventually, her abilities were tested as part of a show on the Discovery Channel called “The Girl With X-Ray Eyes.”

Demkina was asked to prove her skills by viewing people and describing what she thought was wrong with them. She correctly diagnosed medical ailments in the people she viewed, however, skeptics noted she did not find any of the major ailments each person had. When given a new test where she had to discover specific ailments, she was able to correctly diagnose 4 out of 7 people. Some people felt these results were incredible, and others thought it proved that she didn’t have X-ray vision. If you find this impressive, then perhaps we don’t need to discover a gadget that lets you have X-ray vision. If you don’t find it impressive, no worries, I have a lot more options for X-ray vision coming up.

The only other real world example of x-ray vision like this is from Patricia Houlihan.

Sadly, her x-ray vision is metaphorical. But, if you’re ever in Vancouver, and need someone to see traps that can cost you money when buying a home, this is your lady. What a great ad!

I saw X-ray glasses in the back of a comic book!

If you grew up reading comic books, at some point you may have heard of or seen an ad for x-ray glasses. Spoiler alert: they were a gag product. Teenage boys everywhere were probably very disappointed when they got the glasses in the mail. X-ray glasses were created by Fred J. Wiedenbeck in 1909, and used an optical illusion to make it seem like you saw through objects around you. Constructed of a plastic frame with cardboard lenses, each lens had small holes punched out of them. Looking through them, you would see objects with a transparent outline and a solid center. This gave the illusion of x-ray vision, without the viewer actually seeing anything.

When it came to X-ray glasses, most users were probably interested in the ability to see through clothes. The thing is, this isn’t really x-ray vision if you’re just using it to see through clothes, it’s infrared vision. Using infrared vision, there are cameras, apps, and glasses that you can use to see through clothes — though that’s not what they were designed for! they were designed for SCIENCE.

Infrared rays penetrate further than ultraviolet and visible rays due to their larger wavelengths. Where ultraviolet and visible rays would hit fabric and be reflected back, an infrared ray would travel through the fabric and then be reflected back when it encounters something more solid, like a second layer of fabric, or skin. A camera or glasses could capture this reflected infrared light, and make it visible to you. If you would like to delve more into the science behind this, check out this article “How IR X-Ray Vision Works.” For the most part, you can only use infrared rays to see somebody’s underpants or bra or body shape under clothing, and it only works on thin materials.

Products you can use to see through clothes include Fujifilm’s crime scene investigator camera (and underpants viewer) the X-T1 IR, the X-Reflect X-Ray Glasses, and your smartphone. What? Did I just say that last one, yes I did! Your smartphone can be used to see through some plastics and some fabrics. This feature is available on the iPhone’s TrueDepth camera and the Photochrom filter on the OnePlus 8 Pro.

Real X-Ray vision

We do x-ray vision with machines. You shoot x-rays at your target, then they are absorbed at different rates by bone and tissue. Soft tissues allow the rays to pass through, while bones absorb the radiation. By using x-ray film, you can develop an image based on where the x-rays passed through your body and where they didn’t. Where the x-rays hit the film after passing through your body determines the image you will see. This is how you can see an outline of your bones.

Superman’s eyes would need to fire beams of x-rays at a target, and then if you copied the way the machine works, somehow interpret them on the other side of the target. Maybe his brain could analyze what parts of the x-rays were absorbed and what weren’t to create an image. It’d be spotty, since the vision would allow him to see through some materials and not others. He’d probably need to do a lot of trial and error to figure out what does and doesn’t absorb the x-rays. One of the worst parts of this vision would mean that any time he’s using it, he’s firing x-rays out of his eyes. X-ray machines are carefully developed to limit where the x-rays are fired so that people are not over-exposed. Superman would need to use this ability sparingly with people since x-ray radiation is harmful.

This brings us to our next question, if old-fashioned x-ray vision is harmful, is there another option?

Terahertz radiation

Terahertz radiation might be a great explanation for Superman’s x-ray vision. This type of radiation lies between frequencies of about 300 billion hertz to 10 trillion hertz. So what, right? What’s the big deal? The big deal is that this radiation isn’t ionizing, so it’s not going to knock apart atoms and molecules in human tissue. It can also theoretically be used for all kinds of things, including x-ray vision, though you’d probably call it ‘T-ray vision.’ To work with terahertz, special lenses are required — referred to as superlenses or metamaterial lenses. While still in the experimental phase, some work has been done to create lenses that can handle terahertz radiation.

Terahertz radiation can be used to see through wood, plastics, and paper. Maybe Superman has had T-ray vision all this time, and we just didn’t know how to talk about it. All kinds of interesting experimental technology uses terahertz. Some work has been done that would allow you to have X-ray vision in an application using terahertz radiation on your phone! If this became a reality, Star Trek tricorders are much closer to being possible. Lack of privacy also will become more of an issue. Imagine if anyone can see through the walls of your house just by holding up their phone!

Terahertz radiation might one day replace X-rays due to how much safer they are for human tissue. But for now, we’re stuck with x-rays and experimental terahertz technology. Maybe it is not such a bad thing that it’s only a few scientists that can see through the walls of your house.

Telescopic and microscopic vision

This one is probably not the most exciting part of Superman’s vision to talk about because we can all figure out what technology offers either type of vision. If you want telescopic vision, grab a telescope. If you want microscopic vision, grab a microscope. And if you want something in between, we have all kinds of lenses. You can get them in glasses or cameras, we have this one covered.

But Superman can switch between the two kinds of vision whenever he feels like it. He can switch between these, or apply them alongside his x-ray vision. Technology that allows this level of flexibility is a bit more out of grasp. You can’t easily use a telescope as a microscope, or the reverse. And to create either type of sight, you still need multiple lenses. For more details about using a telescope as a microscope or vice versa, check out this article: Can we use a telescope as a microscope and vice versa?

It turns out that the same research being done to create special lenses to handle terahertz radiation can be applied to creating flexible lenses that could potentially handle both telescopic and microscopic vision. t’s unlikely something like this would be available to the general public any time soon, but the technology is out there. And, it’s aptly named! We refer to the special lenses as SUPERlenses. (Or metamaterial lenses, as you recall from a few paragraphs back.)

Laser eyes

Another popular power Superman has is the ability to shoot beams of energy out of his eyes. Sometimes described as lasers, sometimes heat, how do we define this power? I again turn to the Superman Wiki, which states:

“It is the ability to release massive amounts of solar energy stored within the body through the eyes, in focused beams of heat (presumably, as infra-red light). It was originally considered to be a subset of X-Ray Vision; for example, Superman was known to melt metal with ‘The heat of his X-Ray vision.’ As his powers developed and became more defined, however, Heat Vision became distinguished as an individual power. The temperature of heat vision or a laser beam is stated to be 5000 degrees (presumably Celsius), making it capable of burning through the toughest steel, material and armor.”

If you think of his power as a subset of X-ray vision, we do have this technology but not for eyeballs. The Department of Defense began building an X-ray bomb back in 2015. It uses a burst of X-rays to destroy chemical and biological weapons useless. The bomb can nullify these types of weapons without damaging the vessels they’re contained in.

This isn’t the first time someone’s tried to use X-rays as a directed energy weapon. Back in the 1970s, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory worked on Project Excalibur. Project Excalibur was a research program for developing an X-ray laser system as a ballistic missile defense for the United States against the multiple warhead intercontinental ballistic missiles created by the Soviet Union. The project was not very successful and was eventually cancelled in the 90s.

Most use of the X-ray involves making it into some kind of bomb. Directed X-rays are generally used for medical imaging, and once two guys did try to create an X-ray gun for use on humans. They wanted to create something you’d expect from a comic book villain — an X-ray gun that delivered a lethal dose of X-ray immediately. Fortunately they were caught and shut down. The military also tried creating something they called a “pain ray.” Surprisingly, at one point the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department considered using something like this for prison riots.

While the pain ray was not implemented by sheriffs, it was fully developed by the military for use in area denial, perimeter security, and crowd control. It was referred to as a heat ray. (Ooo! We’re getting closer to the other description of Superman’s vision… heat vision!) The formal title for the device was ‘Active Denial System’ or ADS. It works by heating the skin of targeted people. The ADS fires a high-powered beam of 95 GHz waves at a target, exciting the water and fat molecules in the skin and instantly heating them. It’s extremely uncomfortable, to understate it, causing people to run away. If they stay in the rays emitted by the ADS they can potentially suffer from first and second degree burns. A test subject described it like this:

“For the first millisecond, it just felt like the skin was warming up. Then it got warmer and warmer and you felt like it was on fire. … As soon as you’re away from that beam your skin returns to normal and there is no pain.”

It sounds like a creepy weapon. Possibly this could be a stand-in for Superman’s heat ray / x-ray vision, but there’s nothing today that would allow you to shoot it out of your eyes. The same goes for all military laser weapons. Most military laser weapons are reported as being in the research and development stage. However, the U.S. Army and Navy both have laser weapons that will eventually be deployed as a standard part of their defense systems.

Can you shoot any kind of laser from your eyes?

Common sense tells us that you probably can’t fire any kind of rays or lasers out of your eyes. If you could shoot x-rays out of your eyes, or from near your eyes, you’d need shielding to prevent the rays from damaging your eyes and other soft tissues. Possibly you could have t-ray goggles, but those aren’t available yet. I guess you’ll have to stick to a phone app (which could happen soon)! As for heat rays, you’d again need to protect your eyes and face from being damaged.

So the question remains, can we at least shoot some kind of lasers out of our eyes? I’m excited to announce the answer is yes! Someone invented contact lenses that shoot lasers. A team of scientists from the University of St Andrews in Scotland developed an organic, laser-emitting layer that can work on any surface. The laser doesn’t need a battery, and so far, it works with a cow’s eye. (Yes it’s not exactly a human’s eye, but we have to start somewhere when it comes to firing lasers out of the eyes.)

The membrane laser (fancy pants contact lens is the official name) can be used for a variety of interesting purposes. For example, it can be built into paper money where it emits a scannable laser barcode. The barcode authenticates the bill and prevents counterfeiting. It could also be used in the eye to emit a barcode, allowing for advanced biometric ID for people wearing laser contacts.

It’s not as exciting as firing death rays from your eyes, but there you have it. One day, you could fire barcodes from your eyes.

In conclusion, you could have Superman’s eye powers so long as you don’t need them to come from your eyes, and you have a way to shield yourself from heat and cancer causing X-rays.

Thanks for reading, this has been another installment of ‘Is it Possible?’

Characters with eye powers

Superman — He has the complex vision we’ve discussed today.

Lynceus —In Greek mythology, he’s one of the Argonauts. His vision is exceptional and enables him to see through walls, trees, skin and the ground. In some stories he can see in the dark.

Olga Mesmer — First appearing in 1937’s Spicy Mysteries, Olga had X-ray vision. Referred to as ‘The Girl with the X-ray Eyes,’ she’s considered to be one of the first super heroes ever!

Homelander — In ‘The Boys’ Homelander exhibits eye powers that seem similar to Superman’s. He has x-ray vision, and the ability to shoot death bringing lasers from his eyes. One interesting difference is that unlike Superman, who cannot see through lead, Homelander cannot see through zinc.

Reader Suggestions

This is a new section I’m adding for the interesting feedback these articles receive. One reader pointed out that you can actually shoot lasers out of your eyes, they’re just very weak. Called Cherenkov light, it can be emitted when people undergo radiation therapy. A paper was written on the topic, called “Experimentally Observed Cherenkov Light Generation in the Eye During Radiation Therapy.”

Feel free to write in with your feedback and suggestions! I’ll make sure they go in this article, or a follow up article.

Sources