Asian kid evolves nightvison haxx !

HapticSimian

HapticSimian

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*ahem*

CAT CHILD FOUND IN CAVE! - FEBRUARY 24TH, 2009

Or, maybe not?

Vikki Thomas, intrepid journalist for The Sun, reports that “A CAT-BOY has stunned medics with his ability to SEE in pitch black with eyes that GLOW in the dark.” All the preceding CAPITAL LETTERS are THE SUN’S, possibly designed to FREAK YOU THE HELL OUT because OMG CAT-BOY WILL DESTROY US ALL!

Young Nong Youhui was supposedly brought to a hospital by his dad Ling, who claimed that the boy’s freaky blue eyes gave him the power of superior night vision and thus allowing him to read in pitch blackness. Amazingly, the article also claims that the boy can see perfectly well in the daylight.

I say BULL****. Yeah, I can use capitals, too.

First of all, cats can see better in the dark due to eyes that operate in a very different way from humans’, thanks to a very long history of evolving along completely different tracks. For instance, cats have pupils that narrow to slits and grow much larger than yours to let more light in while hunting in the dark. They also have larger lenses to absorb even more light, and they even have an extra part called the tapetum lucidum that bounces light back and forth to give them another chance at seeing something in the dark (that’s what causes the gleam when you shine a light at a cat’s eyes). Cats also have more rods, the photoreceptors that benefit night vision.

Even if the boy somehow managed to procure similar eyeballs to a cat, all those attributes come at a cost. A cat cannot, as the article states, see “as clearly as most people do during the day.” In exchange for better night vision, the cat gives up the ability to focus on near objects and the handy tool of depth perception (edit: sorry, I meant “good depth of field” – kitties can’t focus on anything outside things at just the right distance). Their greater number of rods results in fewer cones, removing their ability to see sharp detail and rich color.

The point is: you can’t have your night-vision cake and eat it in broad daylight, too.

Here’s where else your bull**** detector should have rung. The Sun’s only offered explanation for this eerie happening is the following sentence:

Experts believe he was born with a rare condition called leukodermia which has left his eyes with less protective pigment and more sensitive to light.
Leukodermia, also known as vitiligo, isn’t associated with cat-like super-vision – it’s most often associated with Michael Jackson, since it happens to be that disorder in which you get blotchy patches on your skin and hair.

A study of 100 patients with the disorder did find a strong correlation with vision problems, so if anything, the kid would be worse off. The article suggests that the disorder makes one more sensitive to light, which is true, but not in the idiotic way that The Sun suggests. “More sensitive” means that it is painful for people with certain ocular disorders to see in daylight, which impairs their vision, not helping it.

So what’s the real explanation?

Well, it’s hard to say, since the article doesn’t give us the name of the hospital, the doctors involved in these “medical tests,” or even a god damned picture of the mysterious glowing eyeballs. Oh, and this is the very same newspaper that previously brought us a story on the Lost City of Atlantis with a photo of Patrick Duffy and a sidebar written by Plato, the deceased philosopher. (Turns out, it was just the path of the boats used to collect the data. Whoops!)

More likely? It’s a hoax propagated by a poor family looking to make a quick profit by selling a cheap parlor trick to a laughably gullible journalist.
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If there was anything to this, it would likely have made bigger waves than the story resurfacing almost 3 years later as a report on an alien/human hybrid nogal.

Lulz. Gullibility FTW!
 
F

FlatspinZA

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"Two months after he was born, I was told that his eyes were different. I noticed that his eyes were blue." ????

No sh#t, Sherlock, and it took you two months to notice this? :p
 
H

HavocXphere

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Sad people...23 responses and not a single Dune reference to "bright blue eyes". Disappointed. :(

dune-alia-laura-burton.jpg
 
W

wily me

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HapticSimian said:
*ahem*



If there was anything to this, it would likely have made bigger waves than the story resurfacing almost 3 years later as a report on an alien/human hybrid nogal.

Lulz. Gullibility FTW!
Click to expand...

OMF
Rebecca leads a team of skeptical female activists at Skepchick.org and appears on the weekly Skeptics' Guide to the Universe podcast. She travels around the world delivering entertaining talks on science, atheism, feminism, and skepticism. There is currently an asteroid orbiting the sun with her name on it. You can follow her every fascinating move on Twitter: @rebeccawatson.
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Maybe a hoax as you claim based on the scientific evidence you provided but maybe do some more research

http://www.google.co.za/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=Young+Nong+Youhui
 
HapticSimian

HapticSimian

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wily me said:
OMF

Maybe a hoax as you claim based on the scientific evidence you provided but maybe do some more research

http://www.google.co.za/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=Young+Nong+Youhui
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Two points

  1. It's from 2009, which is the important bit of info in the link.
  2. If it wasn't tolly, it would've been on the front page of every magazine, newspaper and science journal within days.

As for your google link, I tend not to do my research at sites like odditycentral, globalgrind, ghosttheory.org, commonsenseconspiracy (lol), lifeslittlemysteries.com or funnyandspicy.com - none of which, incidentally, have cottoned on to the fact that it's a story reported on by that bastion of journalistic integrity, The Sun, in... 2009. :rolleyes:
 
W

wily me

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HapticSimian said:
Two points

  1. It's from 2009, which is the important bit of info in the link.
  2. If it wasn't tolly, it would've been on the front page of every magazine, newspaper and science journal within days.

As for your google link, I tend not to do my research at sites like odditycentral, globalgrind, ghosttheory.org, commonsenseconspiracy (lol), lifeslittlemysteries.com or funnyandspicy.com - none of which, incidentally, have cottoned on to the fact that it's a story reported on by that bastion of journalistic integrity, The Sun, in... 2009. :rolleyes:
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But yet you gave a link to another questionable skeptic to strengthen your "case" of "expertise"!

Here is a better version, more respected by me at least. We will have to wait for the real scientific outcome of course!

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/01/31/does-chinas-cat-eyed-boy-have-natural-night-vision/

Even if he doesn't have cat eyes, he may nevertheless have unusually good night vision, Reynolds said. He could have a rod-rich retina, for example — a retina that contains a higher than usual number of cells involved in light detection. Or the video could be a total hoax.
"It is hard to say what the truth is about this boy," said Dennis Brooks, professor of ophthalmology at the University of Florida's College of Veterinary Medicine. "A good ophthalmic examination by a physician ophthalmologist is in order, I think."


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012...-boy-have-natural-night-vision/#ixzz1lF9r6nhb
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HapticSimian

HapticSimian

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FAUX NEWS?!!!?!!??

129014697456517821.jpg


PS - Also reporting it as current I see. You're a funneh guy...
 
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