It is undeniable that in recent years comic characters, whether from Marvel or DC, have managed to sneak into the hit lists with their film adaptations. Perhaps the one that has enjoyed the least glory has been the 2003 Daredevil , played by Ben Affleck and directed by Mark Steven Johnson, because despite raising twice its budget, it did not receive very good reviews.
The story is a classic of how superheroes are created: exposure to something radioactive. In the real world that kills you but in the Marvel Universe it makes you superhuman. In this case, Matt Murdock is blinded by a radioactive substance transported by a truck when saving a blind man from being run over. This exposure does not kill him but leaves him blind and also increases the sensitivity of the rest of his senses, especially hearing. With the purpose of fighting against injustice, he studies law and while he works in a law firm during the day, at night he dedicates himself to righting wrongs with kung-fu blows. To defeat his opponents, he uses echolocation, his great balance and, above all, a true absence of fear.
Echolocate me, Daredevil
The echolocation that Daredevil uses is similar to that used by sonars on submarines to navigate the deep ocean: the sonar emits a sound that bounces back when it encounters an obstacle. By analyzing the time it takes for that bounce to return, it is possible to identify the distance at which the object in its way is located. However, there is an important difference between the two: the sonar is based on sending a narrow beam of sound to locate the target, and Daredevil uses his two ears. Thanks to the fact that they are separated a certain distance from each other, the bounced sound arrives with differences in intensity, time and frequency to each of them, depending on the spatial position of the object that has generated it. This difference, though subtle, allows Daredevil to recreate the spatial position of the object, including its distance, size, and characteristics.
animal world daredevil
In the real world there are quite a few Daredevils: they are the animals that use echolocation, although they do not necessarily have to be blind . The most famous are the bats, and these, despite not having great vision, are not without it. Echolocation allows them to find places where there are many insects, little competition for food, and few predators for them. To do this, they emit ultrasounds that they generate in the larynx through the nose or through the open mouth .
Cetaceans such as dolphins, porpoises, river dolphins, killer whales and sperm whales also use echolocation. For them it is very useful when diving in areas of murky water. In the case of dolphins, they emit ultrasound in the form of a burst of clicks , and the sides of their head and lower jaw, which contain oily fat, are the areas that serve as receptors for the echo.
The animals that are blind, and also deaf, are moles. Most of them are burrowers and live underground, so evolution has made their small eyes covered by skin and useless to them. They also do not have auditory pavilions but instead have highly developed senses of touch and smell , to which the presence of vibrissae contributes, some rigid hairs that are found on the face, limbs and tail and that have great tactile sensitivity. Other animals without eyes are the blind eel of the Yucatan, in danger of extinction, or the blind shingle, endemic to the Iberian Peninsula . Both species have sensory receptors on their heads, they tend to hide in caves or underground, and some of the specimens are albino.
At the bottom of the sea
But the most incredible and unknown are the abyssal species. Those that live in the deep sea of more than 2,500 meters, where only between 2 and 7% of sunlight reaches, have poorly developed eyes and are almost blind . That is why they use other more adequate senses to perceive the environment, such as sensitivity to the electromagnetic fields produced by other animals. In these species, the bones are low in calcium and are poorly developed due to the darkness, and to overcome the great pressure at such great depths, their body is full of water and, therefore, they can support the weight of the water column. simply by keeping the external and internal pressures equal.
It is not known how many different species inhabit the seabed, but those that have been sighted have monstrous forms when compared to fish from more superficial places and from which they descend. Deep-sea fish tend to gigantism due to the extreme conditions in which they live. They grow very slowly, their metabolism is also very slow and they live for many years. To overcome the lack of food and light, they present evolutionary changes such as large mouths, deformable stomachs, bioluminescent organs, disproportionate teeth…
From the surface hardly any food arrives. Only 5% of the food that is produced in the illuminated area reaches its habitat , so these animals wait motionless for their motion detectors to notify them of the arrival of something edible.
