Today we travel to a future where humans can see at night. What happens when we expand our vision out into the darkness? How does that impact everything from work, to architecture, to poaching to horror movies? And is it even possible?

Guests:

• Gang Han — researcher at UMass Medical School
• Gabriel Licina — researcher and “sometimes biohacker”
• Lynne MacTavish — operations manager at Mankwe Wildlife Reserve
• A. Roger Ekirch — historian at Virginia Tech and author of At Day’s Close: Night in Times Past
• Ernest Freeberg — historian at the University of Tennessee and author of The Age of Edison: Electric Light and the Invention of Modern America

Actors:

• Maria — Cara Rose de Fabio
• Gaby — Eler de Grey
• Marquis — Rotimi Agbabiaka (check out his new solo show called Manifesto on June 21 at the African American Arts and Culture Complex as part of the National Queer Arts Festival.)
• John — Keith Houston (also check out his karaoke nights in San Francisco)

Further Reading:

• UMMS scientists develop technology to give night vision to mammals
• Mammalian Near-Infrared Image Vision through Injectable and Self-Powered Retinal Nanoantennae
• Nanoparticles give mice night vision
• Chlorophyll derivatives as visual pigments for super vision in the red.
• The Real Science Behind the Crazy Night Vision Eyedrops  
• Patent: Methods to enhance night vision and treatment of night blindness
• A Review on Night Enhancement Eyedrops Using Chlorin e6
• In Africa, technology is the final weapon in the deadly poaching war
• Conserving endangered rhinos in South Africa
• Can Handheld Thermal Imaging Technology Improve Detection of Poachers in African Bushveldt?
• At Day’s Close: Night in Times Past
• Ghosts in the ancient world
• Why Some People Never Grow Out of a Fear of the Dark
• Busting the 8-Hour Sleep Myth: Why You Should Wake Up in the Night
• The Age of Edison: Electric Light and the Invention of Modern America
• LINEMAN FEEKS’S DEATH.; WITNESSES DESCRIBE IT TO CORONER SCHULTZE AND A JURY. (New York Times Archive)
• FUNERAL OF THE VICTIM.; SERVICES OVER THE BODY OF LINEMAN FEEKS–HELP FOR HIS FAMILY (New York Times Archive)
• Are Shorter Work Hours Good for the Environment? A Comparison of U.S. and European   Energy Consumption
• The Great Lightbulb Conspiracy

Flash Forward is a critically acclaimed podcast about the future.

In each episode, host Rose Eveleth takes on a possible (or not so possible) future scenario — everything from the existence of artificial wombs, to what would happen if space pirates dragged a second moon to Earth. What would the warranty on a sex robot look like? How would diplomacy work if we couldn’t lie? Could there ever be a black market for fecal transplants? (Complicated, it wouldn’t, and yes, respectively, in case you’re curious.) By combining audio drama and deep reporting, Flash Forward gives listeners an original and unique window into the future, how likely different scenarios might be, and how to prepare for what might come.