So apparently the human eye can detect polarization in light

[silverpig]

I started with some of the cool insect pictures here, then went to read about compound eyes, and that led me to Haidinger's brush

Many people are able to perceive polarization of light. It may be seen as a yellowish horizontal bar or bow-tie shape (with "fuzzy" ends, hence the name "brush")

It works on a white LCD screen. I just tried it and can definitely see the yellow bow tie rotate when I rotate my head.

 

[Jeff7]

Neat.

And that led me to this page about the fovea.

The human fovea has a diameter of about 1.0 mm with a high concentration of cone photoreceptors. The center of the fovea is the foveola – about 0.2 mm in diameter – where only cone photoreceptors are present and there are virtually no rods.

The fovea comprises less than 1% of retinal size but takes up over 50% of the visual cortex in the brain.

Dandy. So not only are our eyes incredibly easy to damage, the workhorse part of them is ridiculously tiny.

 

[Farmer]

Wow never knew.

 

[CycloWizard]

Dandy. So not only are our eyes incredibly easy to damage, the workhorse part of them is ridiculously tiny.

Eyes are actually very robust to most forms of trauma, especially in the context of their location in the head. Very few things in nature will compromise your vision. Man-made hazards, on the other hand, are another story. I can send you high-speed videos of eyes experiencing serious trauma if you're interested or you could even see some experiments in person if you are ever in Texas... I'll also note that the fovea is relatively robust due to its small size. A randomly-located retinal lesion is much less likely to occur in the foveal pit than other parts of the retina. It is also relatively protected by virtue of being in a pit which acts as a structural shell to lend added protection.

 

[mizzou]

I have tons of these

 

[yhelothar]

There are scientists who's used gene therapy to give color blind people the cones they are missing.

There are also animals with up to 15 types of cones, each for its own color spectrum. I want to have those genes implanted into my eyes. :awe:

 

[OverVolt]

I can attest to this as I had hot, on fire candle wax hit my eye :awe:

Healed in 3 days.