And the effects of city lights on nature. But lets start at the beginning with how we see light. When light enters our eye it hits the retina. And is received by photo receptor cells the socalled rod cells respond to light and dark the cones are responsible for color vision but we only see the light that actually enters our eyes if they were in zambia wanted to know more. Light travel. During a thunderstorm or you see the lightning straight away but we hear the thunder with a glow. Thats because sound waves move slowly or as light travels super fast yes. 300000 kilometers per 2nd. It maintains that speed in space where theres a vacuum and it moves only slightly slower through the earths atmosphere but other media slow down for example water in which it travels at a mere 225000 kilometers a 2nd. Travels like ripples spreading on the surface of a liquid in all directions simultaneously. And in Straight Lines which is why we talk of light rays sometimes its even possible for us to see the. Light that does not strike our retinas remains invisible we only see light inside view for example when it scattered off particles of dust or droplets of water and into our eyes. On a rough surface light rays scatter in all directions in Shallow Water this produces wavy abstract patterns. When this light hits a smooth as glass surface it changes direction through refraction and is separated into different colors. Like continues to move until it meets an obstacle in the case of dark clouds it simply swallowed up. And thanks to help are dying star in special theory of relativity we know that nothing can travel at or beyond the speed of light. What is light exactly for one thing its electromagnetic radiation but only a small section of it is visible to us between violets and raid 0 wavelength between 380. 71 enemy set. Objects illuminated by that life of visible to us we dont actually see the objects themselves. But the radiation that they reflect theres much more to life than meets the eye. It brightens things up everywhere light is omni present but what kind of weird matter is light isnt even matter at all or is it pure energy light only seems familiar to us might particle for photons open the doors to a truly strange world scientists used to believe that light comprised tiny balls zipping around through space them light was regarded as a wave but today we know that depending on the experiment light can be either one or the other. The wave light is a particle it depends on how we observe it in the sense its both both at the same time and thats truly bizarre. Light may indeed seem like a far fetched notion but it exists we literally see it constantly but if you take a closer look at it it practically vanishes not least if you try to wait a photon. You know that yes this really is kind of strange at 1st glance. Also vo so im now sitting on this chair and i have a certain mass if i had some scales it would be my rest mass. But that also applies to the elementary particles that were made up of this. But by the photon its different it actually has no rest mass at all. So a photon both exists and does not exist at the same time photons are never at rest according to physicists theyre constantly in motion whats more at the speed of light which is where the next strange phenomenon lies at 1st glance the speed of light seems bewilderingly fast. 1. 3 seconds to the moon or one second to circle the earth 7 times. But looking further afield theres no longer sound so awesome. Light needs an hour and a half to go all the way to saturn the far this planet that can be seen with the naked eye and getting to the nearest star takes 4 years. And to the andromeda galaxy and out of this world 4 and a half 1000000 years. 300000 kilometers per 2nd thats not just any speed nothing moves faster absolutely nothing and never the light from a cars headlamps while not move any faster if the car is also moving it doesnt need to. Be very light always moves at the speed of light i cant add to it but the consequence of this if you think about it for half an hour is that time does not always pass at the same speed the currents does it side the mug life never get. Thanks to Albert Einstein who needed a bit more than half an hour we now know that space and time become distorted when we move the faster we go the stronger the distortion and at 300000 kilometers per 2nd photons move very fast the distortion is so extreme at the speed that from the photons perspective time stands still and space starts expanding to go any faster would be pointless. As the photons perspective. The universe. No longer expounds im everywhere in the universe at the same time unfortunately we cant put ourselves in the photons perspective that would be fantastic if we could join it and also have that perspective everybody that has a mass needs infinite amounts of energy to reach the speed of light the food and then all of anything from the consequence of this quarter of us to a photon would be very exotic it would have no space and no time in kind that site. Its no wonder that light inspires contemplation. But my although my approach to life as such is down to earth enough but the fact that light remains a secret on a level thats not the mystical nor romantic. Notions well that is a factor for me. During a quiet all month when im relaxed sure. Of course i think about how what i do every day can be incorporated into fundamental equations the fundamental laws of nature the corn playing them by sean because the thing is that so that cool. Might evoke some of the most profound mysteries in our world not just at the altar is the various religions but also in the illuminating mines of physicists. Pretty strange stuff lines photons have actually been used to teleport information thanks to a phenomenon called Quantum Entanglement 2 particles such as photons can be correlated in such a way that they always do as the other does no matter how far away they are from each other. Like faraway clocks that somehow synchronize. Einstein 1st described this effect as spooky action at a distance the entangled photons can Exchange Data almost instantaneously but in fact its possible to transmit data at high speeds with normal Light Sources using a life i internet. When the lights go on here not only does the room brighten but data is being transmitted these researchers have the. Institution berlin are working on wireless data communication using light its a technology known as life by short for light fidelity the visible light transmitters are l. E d. Lamps this is. Early days are the main light source for this technology other Light Sources would be far too slow to be useful. Deeds are switched on and all fixed really rapidly sensors on the receiver device capture the signals the speed of the signal transmission is very high thanks to the fact that life i usually life is a very broad spectrum. Wireless data from our ceiling light super fast but could it be a problem for our vision. The question is does it flicker the whole time. And we can see down here the modulation is very very high far higher than the eye can detect. The small green lamps flickering here are just playful Design Elements the device was newly developed by the berlin scientists and the green lights tell the user that its operating the prerequisite for this optical wireless system to function is that there must be visual contact between transmitter and receiver if the light source is interrupted the signal is lost the Data Transmission rate drops to 0 and for that of an advantage of the optical data connection is that it can be easily confined to a room all i need to do is close the blinds and im completely isolated from the outside world. And all my data stay in the room when theyre being transmitted. That is a definitive advantage compared to a radio that hes only be picked up from the outside. The system doesnt allow Data Transmission to be disrupted from my side life internet was tested in a Pilot Project in collaboration with a car maker the technology is packed into this box. Additionally other life i devices were set up at fixed points in such a way that there was always at least one visual contact despite the constant motion of the robots the Data Transmission remained stable a big success for the project. I was. In my view this technology will 1st be applied in an industrial field. Thats for an objective need to exist we have to show that we can fulfill certain specifications with this technology and at the same time that we have a professional area where it can and will find an application. Via the. Data transmission by life could move into daily life such as in museums or in public transport situations where there are many users at once or where wife i transmission is full to me but 1st a number of problems have to be solved. If you move around in a room or you go from that room to another you have to have a system there that can guarantee uninterrupted Data Transmission. We already have those kinds of solutions in the radio frequency area we have to adapt those solutions to optics. Only then will we have a fully functioning system in this system how the researchers. Hope to master those problems within 3 years bringing life i out of its nice position and into their life. Theres nothing like twinkling lights to get you into the festive spirit. That human made lighting at nice is bad for the environment Light Pollution is a growing problem across the planet some of the artificial light that shines into the atmosphere is reflected back creating a dome of diffuse like known as sky glow it can have devastating consequences for creatures who survival depends on the darkness. In germany there are many places where it gets truly dark at night one of them is lake brandenburg ideal conditions for a unique experiment its 3 oclock in the morning this is when water police tend to come to the surface of the lake to feed on alki biologist hans hoke is waiting for them. The light from their head torches would disturb the experiment so they switch them off only infrared light is allowed. Hoka and his team are exploring the effects of sky glow on water. Theyve positioned l. E. D. Lights in circles in a number of test basins they simulate various degrees of Light Pollution. And. This is explained its extremely hard to develop a test model which allows you to observe the effects of sky glow on an ecosystem what we have here is a very very diffuse light but it still affects vast swathes of landscape at night. Areas across Germany Europe all over the world are affected by sky glow in. The sky go into the top. 24 test basins make up a floating a bar a tree. The researchers will be trying to identify the extent that sky glow affects the underwater world the life processes of marine organisms are determined by the intensity of light the researchers take water samples from the test cylinders illuminated to varying degrees samples are taken from various depths and at different times of night and day every type of marine organism from bacteria to algae to fish is of interest the fish confort this is the light allows the fish to see better as they feed and so all plankton. The water fleas that were researching normally come to the surface at night to feed because they know the fish cant see anything. They think theyre safe to feed on our. Part they use the light to adjust their depth. In the daytime they head to the bottom of the lake to avoid the fish so light sends them a message that its the twilight sort of permanent twilight and they need to stay in the depths. Were looking at with our water samples is whether theyre consequently feeding on less out in bacteria and whether this development is perhaps triggering other processes. Time for the researches to get some sleep. But they said theyre alarms for 3 hours later. Just before daybreak theyre up and heading off to fetch more samples from the lake. And their aim is to document the marine organisms daily cycles and last night its way today the illuminated basins are clearly visible against the non illuminated control basin the research is that you get a find out of the albion the basins exposed to sky glow have significantly multiplied because the water flees stayed away from the surface of the water. Once hogan and his team then set about examining their water samples in the lab. They use a piece of equipment that saves them hours of laborious work with a microscope its called a flow cam it automatically scans the sample revealing star shaped rock algae and blue green algae. Everything is counted measured and documented. These are the algae types that water fleas and coppa pods feed on if they dare venture to the lake surface. But the more light there is the less brave they feel. Is sky glow is still a relatively unknown quantity yes our 1st observations indicate that there is something going on even as a result of it. To slightly change in light conditions so we have to assume it affects large areas. The signs are that Light Pollution adversely affects the food chain of lakes and therefore contributes to more frequent algal bloom for the swedish colleague against nice or about to do their last water analysis of the day. Not in a lab this time but in the actual tanks theyre going to install an underwater microscope camera. Once its underwater the device takes a nonstop series of photographs these allow the Research Just to establish the depth of the organisms and where theyre headed the camera can do to fleas as tiny as 1200th of a millimeter. You know we can see the exact location and movement of these marine organisms they immediately react to changes in light Bright Sunlight makes them head down to the bottom of the lake to. Return to the surface when its dark the findings are clear the. Bodies of water and their inhabitants are evidently adversely affected by like pollution. If theyre working up of the Data Confirms their hypotheses. And his colleagues will have identified a worldwide problem now the experiment is over the water flees and they can go back to business as usual today with the sun goes down well have peace and quiet again. A glimpse behind the scenes television is all about light without it our cameras would record this. The images you see other result of captured light. To get a good shot you need to make sure your settings are right if your cameras out of focus theres no selvage in the image. But in your way of capturing light to change that. Whats happening here could revolutionize film and t. V. Production research is from the Computer Science department of germanys arland university the testing out a brand new way of capturing video using light field cameras they not only measure the intensity of the light emanating from a scene but also the direction in which the individual rays are traveling this is the light field. A few additional photography reproduces a point in a scene on to a point on the film or the sensor. In a light field photography each array of light is mapped to the point thats being reflected from. So for every point in a scene various rays are reflected in Different Directions which are captured and analyzed and the physics behind it is nothing new but right now the system is only used for stills its allows you to adjust the focus of any point on the image after its been taken if this works for moving images to make you completely change filmmaking. As whitefield video cameras would allow you to do all kinds of things in post you could choose a depth of field angle and Camera Position retrospectively could come off you could even add tracking shots things youd normally need on the original material but what else you could do them afterward you know. This is tim uses 64 individual cameras and therefore sends 64 times as much image data 17 gigabytes per 2nd need to be stored in real time not only can you count the position of every point of light you can also calculate the direction of the light rays. Its already works in the lab. Now they want to test it under more real Life Conditions at the Animation Institute and not fix bugs that planning to film a cellist playing in a studio and capture her movements using light field equipment. And put it zoom by using light field cameras we hope that well be able to shift the focus around the space in a way thats not possible with a real physical lens of. Nuclear that us is so this is an ocean this is a great example of what something new and innovative about this technology and their guns and taken mckees. Preparations are underway for the 1st night field video shoot in europe they need to break up the cameras and connect fast lengths of cables and prepare the stage for. The scientists and animation specialists will test whether its possible to capture this new form of video and transferred the enormous amounts of data at the same time. Refuses to come out using 64 cameras gives us 64 different perspectives. In addition to the color and Light Properties of each point you can also calculate the distance this has huge advantages for post production you can add the extra factor after the fact and who knows what. The light field video shoot has proved a success the team has managed to create a 3 d. Model of the cellist the recordings have captured the amount of light reflecting in all Different Directions from every point in the scene. And this means they can calculate the exact position of each of those points. But theyve also managed to successfully capture her movements using the spatial data they can replicate the teller strum different angles and even have her play polyphonic play. Later for secretly wished for eventually a Light Field Technology might work like a kind of scanner system he wouldnt have actual cameras anymore so all the camera work would take place and post. That. Were trying to bring this technology into Film Production for the 1st time and thats whats so special when it does this but it wont be possible until we have the necessary equipment to handle data on the scale of these kinds of productions we could produce on the hope that. The Research Shows demonstrates how the focus can be shifted around the scene. It starts close upon the bow and gradually moves across the various figures. Light field video really does walk and in the future it could be possible to capture all of these perspectives and achieve these postproduction effects with just one single camera. If outlet is red white are great but only very few of it. Do you have a science question that youve always wanted answered were happy to help out and send it to us as a video text ovoid smell but if we answer it on the show well send you a little surprise as a thank you can i just ask you. To find as i do w dot com slash science or drop us a line at d w underscore site tech on facebook d w dot science. That wraps up todays show next time we take a look at hyperloop a technique that could transport people and goods at over 1000 kilometers an hour is this the future of transport join us next time to find out by. Explore. Naturalised. Renaissance man. I examine no front almost. To mark is 250th birthday maybe if we talk with unreliable historian of the law author. On the road experience. Coming up on delhi. Like something from an exotic foreign culture thats what the. Mysterious and fierce. The hard work of. Your romantics in 30 minutes on d w. Above. The be. The big christmas. Bank that created todays world started. The common point in politics close up making its initial flirtation with capitalism. Strike some states of emergency or it sinks into chaos Margaret Thatcher remarks in cabbage them to work harder and they will was at the start of the neo liberalism. Chanting the 2nd step is explain the lack of my life crisis many people. To start is an era that defines and were much to blame 1970 s. The big bang needed to start december 23rd w touch. My claim. This is the news these are all top stories the u. S. House Judiciary Committee has approved impeachment articles against president all child that charge him with abuse of power in obstructing congress and house is now expected to vote next week on whether to impeach the president unless youre charges. In london hundreds of people have taken to the streets to protest those days in general Election ResultsPrime MinisterBoris Johnsons conservatives won an absolute majority in parliament while the main opposition