"It lights up like the Fortress of Solitude," Therrien's said, likening itto Superman's headquarters of glowing crystals. He tamed it with 12strips of black tape.
Tom Hespos, a partner in an advertising firm in New York, countedsix glowing devices in his bedroom. One is an alarm clock with ablue backlight so strong he has to put a pillow between it and him.
And don't get him started on his Internet router, which hasblinking blue light-emitting diodes.
"Whoever sees that glow through my window must think I'm keepingaliens in my spare room," he said.
Blue LEDs have become particularly popular for electronics, andthat's part of the problem. In dim light, our eyes are moresensitive to colors at the blue end of the spectrum, so blue LEDslook brighter, said Mariana Figueiro of the Rensselaer PolytechnicInstitute's Lighting Research Center in Troy, N.Y.
When blue LEDs became available in 1993, following red, green andyellow, they first showed up only in high-end equipment. Andy Logan, principal designer at Frog Design in San Francisco,tries to steer manufacturers toward more subtle light designsrather than having the diodes shine like flashlights.
But he doesn't recommend designing products so that people can turnoff the lights without turning the entire gadget off. The lightsoften indicate when a device shouldn't be unplugged, such as when ahard drive is writing data.
Outside the bedroom or dorm room, more blue LEDs might actually bea good thing — researchers are exploring whether they can beused to keep people alert and awake.
Scientists have discovered that a light-sensitive layer of the eye,separate from the part that allows us to see, sends signals to thebody that affect rhythms of wakefulness and sleep.
That layer is also more sensitive to blue light than to any othercolor, said George Brainard, director of the light research programat Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.
He has funding from the NASA-affiliated National Space BiomedicalResearch Institute to study whether blue-light treatment can helpkeep astronauts more alert. Figueiro is helping the Navy figure outwhether blue light can help submariners adjust to their watchschedules.
For now, researchers don't believe the low levels of blue lightemitted by gadgets is enough to change our sleep patterns. "Some people are very, very sensitive," Brainard said, "so I'd hateto say never."
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