The Body's Latent Superpowers

Taken from here.

The human body has the genetic programming to do far more than humanity currently recognizes. The question isn't if we have the hardware to do these things, the question is how to access them. The answer for the abilities that are more possible is a very high level of body awareness, but the others are pretty unlikely to ever happen. This article isn't super helpful honestly, it's just interesting and raises some questions about what the human body is capable of.

Hearing

Ultrasound Echolocation

For those of you who haven't heard of Daniel Kish, here he is, a human echo-locator.

Daniel has learned to use echolocation to navigate his surroundings with very precise accuracy including being able to visualize structures and ride a bike around objects. This is possible through bone conduction which bypasses our normal hearing methods and helps us hear high frequencies. Technically everyone could learn this as well.

Conscious Infrasound

Infrasound is sound that is lower than the human ear can hear. Conscious infrasound is the ability to detect low frequencies through a mix of various body parts and sensations such as the vibrations it creates in the vestibular system and auditory system in the ear, internal organ resonance, and vibrations felt on the skin. Infrasound is often linked to feeling like a supernatural or spooky event is occurring. Technically this could be learned if a person was aware enough.

Perfect Pitch and Harmonic Separation

Perfect pitch is not possible for everyone unfortunately but a lucky few can distinguish frequency differences of less than 1 hertz. Perfect pitch comes from a mix of genetics and early exposure. If it was possible as a child, it should technically be possible as an adult though, at least in my mind. Harmonic separation is the ability to separate specific sound from general noise. This ability is most recognized in the Cocktail Party example where you can hear your name from across the room despite the noise.

Touch

Seismic Vibration Sensing

The skin has Pacinian corpuscles which detect vibration. Bones also detect vibrations. The vestibular system in the ear can detect linear acceleration and ground tilt. All of these allow humans to detect vibrations as subtle as .01mm displacement under optimal conditions and .0001 at optimal frequencies. Some indigenous tribes teach foot based sensing although it doesn't seem to be scientifically substantiated.

Thermal Pattern Recognition

Thermal pattern recognition is the ability to detect temperature contrasts. Humans are able to detect thermal contrasts of a few tenths of a degree centigrade (.18 degrees Fahrenheit).

Magnetoreception Navigation

Humans have the latent ability to detect Earth's magnetic fields although conscious awareness is unlikely. It might've been used in ancient times for backup navigation systems like migratory birds but weaker.

Balance/ Body

Hyper-Precise Proprioception

Humans can detect minuscule muscle changes as small as .1% of muscle length in the eyes. Other muscles can also be detected by at varying degrees of change.

Detect Earth's Magnetic Alignment

Earth's magnetic alignment could technically be seen by small changes in brightness, contrast, or sensitivity differences based on the magnetic alignment. This is a study on sensory modulation without conscious perception, meaning that the process could technically be made conscious.

Vision

Full Ultraviolet and Infrared Vision

Taken from here.

Ultraviolet light is the spectrum of light beyond purple in the visible light spectrum. The human eye contains S-cones which are able to detect below 400 nm, into the near UV spectrum. Some people who have had their cataracts removed have been able to see into the UV spectrum which they describe as a whitish violet or a bluish glow. This does require the removal of the eye's natural lens though so... not so likely... but possible!

Humans can perceive infrared light, but just barely and under specific circumstances. If two photons of infrared light arrive simultaneously, the human eye can perceive it as a brief burst of green or white light. Again, technically possible but doesn't seem super likely.

Photon-Counting Night Vision

Photon counting, the ability to detect individual photons, is more possible. Humans are able to detect single photons but a requirement of being able to do so if having less neural noise, spontaneous electrical fluctuations in the brain. Neural noise can be tempered though by higher alpha-theta rhythms, something that can be achieved by meditation/ mindfulness, deep breathing, music, yoga, closing the eyes, and creative or repetitive tasks. So it stands to reason that we could hypothetically attain this ability with the right neural training.

Polarized Perception

Polarized perception is seeing a faint yellow-blue pattern of light around a light source. Polarized perception can be trained which you can read about here. Polarized perception was probably used for navigation in the past using skylight polarization for orientation.

Expanded Color Dimensions

The Purkinje shift is the ability to see some colors as brighter at twilight. Nothing special really. Some people do have a fourth type of cone in their eye which allows them to see many more colors than the average person, but you've gotta be born with it.

Smell

Pheromone Communication

Detecting pheromones is done subconsciously but humans have an organ in the nose to detect pheromones... but it's considered nonfunctional. It's called the Vomeronasal organ. If we could learn to activate it then we might be able to detect pheromones.

Ultra-Trace Toxin Detection

Some humans have extreme sensitivity to smell but it's mostly done subconsciously.

Spatial Smell-Mapping

We have the ability to triangulate smells and use smells as landmarks the same way that we use sight to identify landmarks. Kind of odd to think about but we could technically get very good at this if we paid attention to it.

Other

Circadian/ Light Tuning

Most people are familiar with jet lag, the body's circadian rhythm being interrupted with a time zone switch resulting in difficulty sleeping. Well, technically we have the ability to automatically tune into our circadian rhythm although it isn't quite clear how we could go about doing it.

Group Heart/ Mood Syncing

The heartbeats of people in various situations are able to synchronize. This is most common in group activities like choirs or drum circles, but it can happen at other times as well. For heart beats situations like synchronized activity, having a shared focus or experience, emotional closeness and connection, and experiencing positive emotions. Groups can also sync moods and breathing patterns.

Gut-Brain Intuitive Sensing

Basically another way to say intuition which is done subconsciously. You can learn to tune into your intuition in a conscious way though, specifically through body awareness.