Near-infrared spectroscopy

Near-infrared spectroscopy is like playing hide-and-seek with light. You know when you close your eyes and put your hands over them, you can't see anything right? But if you peek through your fingers, you can see a little bit of light coming through. That's kind of what near-infrared spectroscopy does!

Scientists use a special type of light called near-infrared light, which is invisible to the naked eye, to shine into objects, like our bodies. When the light shines into our bodies, it bounces off of things inside, like our blood and muscles, and comes back out.

A special machine measures how much of that light came back out and what kind of light it was. Using that information, scientists can tell what's inside our bodies!

For example, if a scientist shines near-infrared light into your arm, they can see how much oxygen is in your blood. They can use this information to help doctors and nurses figure out if you need more oxygen.

So, near-infrared spectroscopy is like playing hide-and-seek with light to find out what's inside our bodies. It's a really helpful tool for doctors and scientists to understand how our bodies work!