REAL LIFE NEWS: AN ARTIFICIAL SUN FOR THE DARK TIMES
by Hazed
In more “disappearing sun” news: those who live to the far north of the planet have to endure long, dark winter nights. Sometimes, in the dead of winter, the sun only appears for 45 minutes before it sets again. That lack of sunlight is not only depressing, but harmful, leading to disturbed sleep, obesity and even cancer.
Now researchers are exploring a range of ways to counteract the problem, by bringing light to those who live in dark conditions.
The Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, is working on a system to regulate the amount of light which people are exposed to each day. It is based around a device known as a Daysimeter. One of the team who developed the system, Professor Mariana Figueiro, described it as “a personal light and activity sensor. It can be worn on the wrist or around the neck and continuously records and stores data for measuring circadian light-dark patterns.”
The plan is that the data collected by the device is sent to a central control hub in the home, so that if a person has received either too little or too much sunlight, a smart system will adjust the house’s lighting to compensate. This will rebalance the light exposure for an individual, which will help to maintain a more normal and healthy circadian rhythm.
This sounds very useful although I wonder how it would work if two people in the same home have different lighting needs!
The team is developing other ideas which you can read about at the source link below.
