Few would disagree that a person’s life would be impossible without our senses. All of them are important for us, but if you ask a person which one he is least prepared to lose, then most likely he will say: eyes.
Eyes are one of the most basic human senses. It is thanks to them that we know what the world looks like, and we can navigate it. However, the method of their functioning, as well as their capabilities, are not even fully known today.
People are trying to unravel any secrets associated with the human eye, but much remains to be learned in this regard. What are the known and unknown possibilities of human eyes that may surprise us? We present you 10 interesting facts about the eyes and eyesight of a person.
10. Vision is the main feeling of a person
It is estimated that about 80% of the information goes to the brain through the eyes.. Interestingly, people who have lost their vision continue to "see" during sleep. This is achieved by storing images in memory and the ability of creation „new movie ” based on previously stored information.
For people who were born blind, this is not accessible, because the brain has never received from the organ of vision any images that could be processed, remembered, and then used.
9. Upside down
The image that appears on the retina appears there inverted and reduced. Then it is corrected and transformed into information by the brain so that we can perceive it correctly.
Also, it should be noted that the lens in our eye works faster than any photo lens. Try to quickly look around the room and think about how many different distances you focus your eyes on. Each time this happens, the lens constantly changes its focus and all this is unconscious. Compare this to a photo lens that takes a few seconds to change focus from one distance to an object to another.
8. Dilation and narrowing of the pupils
The pupil of the eye reacts to light. It narrows when it is very light around, and expands in the dark. However, not only in such situations its size changes.
In many moments, when a person experiences specific emotions, the size of the pupil can vary. For example, it expands if we experience fear, joy, sexual attraction and excitement. Interestingly, the pupil reduces its diameter when a person feels uncomfortable, being greatly suppressed by the circumstances surrounding him.
7. Colors and shades
Photoreceptors located in the retina allow a person to recognize 160 colors and about 600,000 of their shades. Statistically, one in twelve men is color blind and does not distinguish at all or can identify only a few colors.
6. We blink every few seconds
Scientists estimate that an adult blinks 12 to 17 times per minute. It is also known that if we summarize the time when the eyelids go down during blinking, we can conclude that the eyes remain closed for 9 days a year. Interestingly, newborns blink much less frequently - up to about 4 times per minute.
5. Pirate Eye patch
The eyes must adapt to the amount of light around him. Often, when we enter from a bright room into a dark one, we need to wait a while before the eye adjusts and recognizes the surroundings and objects. Also in a situation where we move from a dark interior to a light one.
Exactly because of this reason the pirates wore a blindfold in one eye. It usually closed ... a healthy eye, allowing you to quickly adapt to variable lighting conditions. Going down the deck, where there was not enough light, the pirate put on a blindfold on his open eye. Thanks to this habit, he could without losing a second to eye addiction quickly adapt to changing the degree of illumination of space.
4. The eyes should rest
The human eye can perform its functions without rest. However, the muscles that are responsible for the movements of the eyeball and eyelids need respite.. If they are tired, people begin to feel great discomfort. Because of this, symptoms that interfere with good vision may develop later. Eyes start to bake, watery, or a “heavy eyelids”And even a headache. This is a signal that it is time for the eyes to rest.
3. Change in eye color in infants
A feature that may surprise young parents is that children do not always remain with the same eye color with which they were born. It is characteristic of our climate that newborns often come to the world with a blue eye color, while for some it darkens over time. Sometimes you need to wait a few years to see the real color of the child’s eyes - it may then turn out that his eyes are not blue, but green or brown.
This is due to the production of melanin, which is located in the iris, which gives color to our eyes. In our climate, its production does not begin immediately after the child arrives in this world, but after some time, it can affect the change in eye color.
Interestingly, there are no two identical eyes in the world. Each iris, like fingerprints, has its own original and unique pattern. Differences can be seen even between the right and left eyes of one person. Even identical twins do not have the same irises.
It is also hard to believe that all blue-eyed people came from one distant ancestor. Scientists have found that all of our blue-eyed contemporaries come from one forefather, who, most likely, lived about 10 thousand years ago in the Black Sea region.
Researchers studying eye color genetics have found that more than 99.5% of blue-eyed people who agree to study their DNA have the same small mutation in the gene responsible for the color of the iris. This, according to Professor Hans Eyberg and his colleagues from the University of Copenhagen, suggests that this mutation initially took place in only one person who became the ancestor of all blue-eyed people in future generations.
2. Night vision correction
Few people know that during night sleep you can completely correct a visual impairment. Thanks to this method, in the morning, after waking up, a person can clearly see without wearing glasses. And all this thanks to one of the modern methods called orthocorrection.
The whole secret of this method lies in special orthokeratological lenses that must be worn at night. During sleep, they simulate the eye and give the cornea a shape that allows it to be clearly visible for about 10 hours from the moment the lenses are removed.
Using orthocorrection, you can correct visual defects, such as myopia and slight astigmatism. And at the same time, this is a completely non-invasive method - the eye returns to its original form after using the lenses.
1. Red eye effect
Fans of taking photos, of course, have repeatedly met with red-eyethat can ruin even the most successful shot. In fact, this is a side effect of using the flash in a shaded room or at night.
At the time of shooting, the flash light enters the eyeball, more precisely the pupil, which is in the expanded state in the dark. As a result, it does not have time to decrease and passes a large amount of light into the eyes, which, after reflection from the retina and passing through numerous blood vessels, gives a red color.