Making the Invisible Visible

    

    A research project at MIT has successfully developed a new method to read an unopened book.  Using computers, cameras, and physics, the MIT Research Lab scientists were able to read up to nine pages deep into a closed book.  They are currently still working to expand the capabilities of this breakthrough technology.

    Their method takes advantage of terahertz radiation and the way it interacts with the world around us.  As opposed to other wave frequencies, terahertz radiation can offer precise representations of the chemicals and objects it bounces off of.  We can measure these representations to see what was once hidden from our eyes, as the radiation is able to penetrate surfaces.  Terahertz waves are much more accurate than other waves, such as x-rays, which are useful to determine how many pages of a book there are but offer no capability to distinguish what is actually written on them.

 

The blue wave represents what was first emitted, and the red represents the waves that were bounced back.

    To determine which page the words read by the computer are on, the scientists use timing methods to track the time it took for the wave to get sent out, bounce off the page, then return to the camera. This system is based on the idea that between all pages is a 20mm deep air pocket, which refracts the terahertz waves in a way known to people learned in physics.  As a result, an algorithm was developed to interpret this data and pinpoint each individual page.

    An important application of this computing ability is reading incredibly old or delicate books that researchers are not willing to even touch out of fear of damaging it.  With this new method, we can decipher what is contained in ancient texts that before were mysteries to scholars who had no choice but to not touch them.  New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art has already expressed interest in taking advantage of this technology to study pieces in its own collection. 

References and Pictures:

http://news.mit.edu/2016/computational-imaging-method-reads-closed-books-0909

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i25SuJzb0A