Infrared-vision glasses edge toward superhuman sight

Beijing Institute of Technology researchers have built lightweight glasses that capture infrared light with mercury telluride quantum dots and convert it into visible colors via an OLED layer, overlaying IR hues onto a normal visible field. The 23-gram prototype renders weaker IR as red and stronger/shorter-wavelength IR as red-cyan, enabling simultaneous IR and visible perception. While a step toward visual prosthetics, high-fidelity AR, and navigation in degraded environments, practical devices remain years away; another group is pursuing infrared-detecting contact lenses as a parallel development.