Bright Lights, Not-So-Big Pupils

Phys Org ^ | December 31st, 2008

[CE2949BB]

A team of Johns Hopkins neuroscientists has worked out how some newly discovered light sensors in the eye detect light and communicate with the brain. The report appears online this week in Nature.

These light sensors are a small number of nerve cells in the retina that contain melanopsin molecules. Unlike conventional light-sensing cells in the retina—rods and cones—melanopsin-containing cells are not used for seeing images; instead, they monitor light levels to adjust the body's clock and control constriction of the pupils in the eye, among other functions.

[LiteKeeper]

All happening by chance?

[muawiyah]

Yup ~ if they don't work right your eyes will go out of whack ~ you'll be blind in the mid-day Sun and a saber toothed tiger will eat you unless you move far to the North beyond their sharp claws.

At the same time you'll get around at night, albeit in black and white, just like it was daylight.

Lots of folks discover this phenomenon shortly after cataract surgery. It takes the visual cortex a fair amount of time to adjust to the increased light levels.

We're just big ol wet machines.

[Daffynition]

How about seeing with the subconscious eye?