Light won’t be only for illuminating a room soon. Wired has a nice article about engineers working on “Smart” light sources, using LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes). Not only LEDs can be a lot more energy efficient than regular lighting, they can blink faster than conventionnal blubs, thus allowing to pass signals without getting noticed by the human eye. I guess it does not sound impressive like that, but applications cited range from road signs that communicate warnings to specific cars to internet connection via the light, just as a WiFi connection.

They also discuss the impact of lighting on the body clock, as seen in winter with the phenomenon of biological darkness. An interesting read.

August 30th, 2005 | General Science, Technology