Comments on: eyevolution

eyevolution

Pants! — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:09:11 -0800

Although the evolution of the eye is often pointed to by evolution's skeptics as evidence of design, biologists have been quick to point out evidence to the contrary. Today, Julian Partridge of Bristol University's Ecology of Vision Research Unit has brought to light evidence of a Pacific fish that has evolved biological mirrors for navigating murky water.

By: DU

DU — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:19:23 -0800

God I hate science "journalism". JUST TELL ME HOW IT WORKS OR EVEN WHAT IT IS DOING. You get the idea the writer doesn't even know. He just knows there some mirrors and some eyes and they point in different directions. Must be helpful to catch food or something, right? Throw in a bunch of ocean puns and hand it in!

By: DU

DU — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:22:40 -0800

Naturally, a human being produces actual information.

By: designbot

designbot — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:22:46 -0800

Wow, Jesus invented mirrors too?

By: Rumple

Rumple — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:41:16 -0800

This reflects well on God.

By: FatherDagon

FatherDagon — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:44:36 -0800

That optics setup must make the fish incredibly susceptible to vampires - it'd never see 'em coming. Of course, since it's already a spook, maybe the point is moot.

By: Rumple

Rumple — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:53:42 -0800

Seriously, this is very cool. But mirror eyes have been known for some time in organisms such as scallops and ostracods (pdf). I'd like to know more how these new vertebrate examples differ from the invertebrate ones.

By: Rumple

Rumple — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 13:02:20 -0800

Also, the eye design book is an excellent resource for (unsurprisingly) eye design in general

By: garlic

garlic — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 13:15:28 -0800

That 4 holes, 2 retina thing is pretty cool too.

By: grobstein

grobstein — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 13:19:00 -0800

I thought dogs had mirrored eyes. Can't find a ref off-hand, but I think I read about it in Stephen Budiansky's The Truth About Dogs.

By: grobstein

grobstein — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 13:20:37 -0800

(Ah.)

By: Dr. Wu

Dr. Wu — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 13:37:12 -0800

I fucking love evolution.

By: jenkinsEar

jenkinsEar — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 15:00:10 -0800

I fucking love evolution. of course, evolution is also why you love fucking.

By: tickingclock

tickingclock — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 15:05:19 -0800

This is great. Thanks for posting.

By: R_Nebblesworth

R_Nebblesworth — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 15:33:24 -0800

I'd like to know more how these new vertebrate examples differ from the invertebrate ones. According to the ScienceBlogger linked to, what makes it special is that this is the only vertebrate example. I have no idea if that's true or not.