How Matt Murdock of ‘Daredevil’ Can See the World Around Him Without Sight

In an elightening episode of the Nerdist show Because Science, host Kyle Hill discusses the popular Netflix series Daredevil series and how the science of human echolocation helps protagonist Matt Murdock see the world around him without actually having the ability of sight.

Animals that echolocate do this, they make sounds and then listen for those sounds’ echoes to determine where objects are around them in space. How quickly the echo returns, and how loud it is, lets the animal infer where the object is and its basic size and shape. Is this what Daredevil is doing? Well, not technically. The basis for Matt Murdock’s skills comes from an ability to hone in on more than just radar-like information. Daredevil can smell and hear and feel more of the world than we can, and it’s the combinations of all of his senses that let him fight crime. But a real-world Matt Murdock could use some form of echolocation to pinpoint enemies in space by bouncing sound waves off of them and listening for the echoes that return.

via Geeks Are Sexy