National Geographic: The Invisible World Page #4

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cause an activating pattern

These Kirlian photographs record

the sequence

of a woman's monthly menstrual cycle

A yogi's hands before

and then during a state

of deep concentration

Though powerfully evocative

the meaning and value of

the Kirlian image

still remains largely unknown

With further research it may prove

to be a new frontier of our knowledge

At the Fermi National Accelerator

Laboratory near Chicago

we are being brought ever closer

to an ultimate frontier

With huge, exotic equipment

scientists are working to better see

and understand the smallest

possible particles

of which all matter is made

Only 25 years ago, atoms

composed of protons

neutrons, and electrons

were regarded as the

smallest basic objects

Today it seems that atoms

are built of

even tinier things called quarks

Fermilab is, in a sense

the world's largest and

most powerful microscope-

an awesome collection of machinery

designed to shatter atoms to pieces

and see the objects within

Buried underground

a four-mile ring of powerful magnets

guides a narrow beam of particles

which is rapidly accelerated

When fired at their target

they will act like a powerful hammer

to break an atom apart

The process begins with

a giant generator

and a massive jolt of power

Hurled within seconds to nearly

the speed of light

the beam of particles is aimed to

strike the tiny nuclei of atoms

The collision will be photographed

by several sensitive cameras

When projected onto

an analyzing table

the resulting pictures show the

scattered tracks left

by hundreds of liberated

subatomic particles

Each type of particle has its own

distinguishing signature

of curving or spinning lines

By carefully recording and studying

these trails

we are gradually learning more

about the now smallest

and most elusive units of

matter the still

unseen entities called quarks

Quarks, however, may well be composed

of even smaller things

We still do not know where, or if ever

the world of the small will stop

High above the Sonoran Desert

near Tucson, Arizona

the Kitt Peak National Observatory

is focusing our vision

onto the realm of the very large

The world's biggest collection

of astronomical

Kitt Peak is dominated

by the 19-story dome of the powerful

Mayall telescope

Like most modern optical telescopes

it is really a colossal camera with

which to photograph the sky

Galaxies. Only 60 years ago their

existence was just a theory

But with the construction of larger

and larger telescopes

thousands were seen and photographed

Today astronomers estimate

that the universe contains at least

each with 100 billion stars

Powerful instruments like

the Mayall telescope

are now seeing the heavens

more clearly

than has ever been possible

Its light-collecting mirror can

photographically detect objects

more than six million times fainter

than the unaided eye can see

Astronomers today rarely

look through a telescope directly

An array of computers and image

intensifiers record

and make visible objects

that the eye alone is not sensitive

enough to see

Artificial colorizing shows

subtle details

that would otherwise be missed

Revealed on the telescope's computer

enhancement screen

the world's first image of the surface

of a star other than our sun

Known as Betelgeuse

it lies 600 light years from Earth

The computer-colorized contrasts

on its surface

are believed to be huge regions of

varying hot and cold

Resolving this image through the

telescope was like photographing

a grain of sand from several

miles away

Probing ever deeper into

the enormity of the sky

the powerful eye of the

telescope is extending

our horizons toward the limits

of space and time

From this exploration

new and astonishing sights

are offering

clues to such baffling questions as

What are stars?

How do galaxies form

Does the universe have an end

At the Salt Lake City campus of

the University of Utah

a frontier of vision that was once

as remote as the darkness

of outer space

has now been dramatically entered

Craig has been totally blind

for 15 years

But in a bold experiment

doctors have surgically implanted

on the visual cortex

of his brain an array of 64 tiny

electrodes

This ingenious feat of

medical engineering

allows Craig to be literally

"plugged in" to the outside world

Bypassing his useless eyes

and optic nerves

doctors can send images in the form

of electrical signals

directly to the visual center

of his brain

Okay, Craig, that's fine

For Craig, it is a strange

new contact

with his long lost sense of sight

When Craig was linked to a

television camera

he reported "seeing" both vertical

and horizontal lines

In this experiment

a computer system will

generate patterns

of dots representing the

braille alphabet

It is the same six-dot code

used in touch braille

The images that Craig sees will

appear something like this

Go. First word

I:

Okay, next word

Okay. "H", "A", "D", had

Next word

"A", "C", "A", "T", cat, "A", "N", "D"

Next word

And

Craig has little trouble "seeing"

the letters

that will form a sentence

but scientists are working toward

even more dramatic goals

I had a cat and ball

Researchers now foresee a day

when a miniaturized system-including

cameras for the eyes

electronics in the glasses

and electrodes on the

brain-will provide

artificial vision for the blind

In the time it takes to blink an eye

cameras can transport us to wondrous

new realms

Revealing once hidden places that span

from the reaches of outer space

to the inner depths of nature

the magic eyes of cameras are

dramatically transforming

our knowledge and perception

In coming years

our vision of the world will be

stretched to newer boundaries

For today we have only begun

to explore

the invisible worlds all around us

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