Beyond chemistry: In a different light

摘要

Many flowers exhibit dark patterns visible under ultraviolet (UV) light, but invisible to the human eye. Honeybees have been studied extensively as pollinators and their eyes have been shown to be sensitive to UV, blue and green light. It is widely believed that the UV patterns of flowers assist pollinators to find nectar or pollen on the flowers. There have not been many studies of visual systems of Australian insects. The sensors in modern consumer digital cameras are designed to produce images as we see them. They achieve this by having a so-called UV-IR cut filter installed in the light path in front of the digital sensor, which blocks all wavelengths outside the wavelength range of human eyes, from blue at around 400 nm to red at around 700 nm. The first step in taking UV images is to have the UV-IR cut filter removed and replaced, in clean-room conditions, with a clear non-absorbing filter, as can be done by Camera Clinic in Melbourne.