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The Cancer Treatment That Gives You Night Vision

How to be a bonafide superhuman

Christopher Kokoski
3 min readDec 31, 2021
Close up of an eye with floating numbers — The Cancer Treatment That Gives You Night Vision
Image by Author via Canva

Cancer is a terrible disease, but it may give you superpowers.

Well, not the disease itself, but one of the many treatments. Namely, photodynamic therapy (PDT).

Scientists have known of the strange side effect of the treatment for a while but just discovered last year what makes it special. The treatment won’t make you invisible or grant you the freedom to fly.

But it will give you superhuman night vision.

What is Photodynamic Therapy?

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a type of treatment used to destroy diseased cells. Certain substances, such as those found inside tumors, absorb particular wavelengths of light. When exposed to the right kind of light, these compounds generate a form of oxygen that can damage surrounding cells and tissue.

Put simply, PDT is used to kill cells by shining specific kinds of light at them.

The Mysterious Magic of Human Vision

Humans can see because of photoreceptor cells in the retina. These receptor cells pass the information on to other nerve cells, which then carry it to the brain for processing.

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Christopher Kokoski
Christopher Kokoski

Written by Christopher Kokoski

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