[extropy-chat] Looking for examples of naturally evolved X-ray vision?

Damien Broderick thespike at satx.rr.com
Tue Jan 17 23:06:33 UTC 2006


At 04:35 PM 1/17/2006 -0500, Robert Bradbury wrote:

>You can sense IR photons (as heat) if there are sufficient numbers of 
>them.... X-rays in fact are so energetic that they break the bonds in the 
>water molecules and produce multiple free radicals which cause extensive 
>DNA damage.  This is why X-ray exposure must be limited.

Superman's eyes, as everyone knows, emitted copious quantities of infrared 
photons, as well as streams of X-rays (although how he used the latter to 
see with has never been clear to me, since the whole point is that they 
mostly pass through objects rather than bouncing off them). But it's 
noticeable that he hasn't been in the news lately; I happen to know that 
he's lying very low, trying to evade the tremendously expensive class 
actions from families of all the people he killed with his X-rays, most 
heartbreakingly his radiation poisoned foster parents and the 
cancer-riddled Lana Lang and Lois Lane.

Damien Broderick




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