Eyes to See: The Astonishing Variety of Vision in Nature

Description

Vision is the sense by which we and other animals obtain most of our information about the world around us. Darwin appreciated that at first sight it seems absurd that the human eye could have evolved by natural selection. But we now know far more about vision, the many times it has independently evolved in nature, and the astonishing variety of ways to see. The human eye, with a lens forming an image on a sensitive retina, represents just one. Scallops, shrimps, and lobsters all use mirrors in different ways. Jumping spiders scan with their front-facing eyes to check whether the object in front is an insect to eat, another spider to mate with, or a predator to avoid. Mantis shrimps can even measure the polarization of light. Animal eyes are amazing structures, often involving precision optics and impressive information processing, mainly using wet protein - not the substance an engineer would choose for such tasks. In Eyes to See , Michael Land, one of the leading world experts on vision, explores the varied ways in which sight has evolved and is used in the natural world, and describes some of the ingenious experiments researchers have used to uncover its secrets. He also discusses human vision, including his experiments on how our eye movements help us to do everyday tasks, as well as skilled ones such as sight-reading music or driving. He ends by considering the fascinating problem of how the constantly shifting images from our eyes are converted in the brain into the steady and integrated conscious view of the world we experience. ** Cover Eyestosee: The Astonishing Variety of Vision in Nature Copyright Preface Contents Plates 1: EARLY EYES The Evolutionary History of Eyes The First Receptors The First Eyes Early Vision 2: COMPOUND EYES AND INSECT VISION Special Zones in Insect Eyes The Pseudopupil Superposition Eyes of Beetles Moths and Butterflies 3: VISION IN THE OCEAN Eyes Shrimp and Mirrors Biological Mirrors 4: ESTABLISHING IDENTITY The Problem of Recognition Fiddler Crab Solutions to Recognition Jumping Spiders: Different Eyes for Different Tasks The Hybrid Eyes of Mantis Shrimps 5: WHERE DO PEOPLE LOOK? Where Do We Look when Driving Round a Bend? Reading Words and Music Ball Sports 6: THE MIND’S EYE The World Out There and the World in Your Head Consciousness and Colour Putting the World Back ‘Out There’ Maintaining a Stable Image of the World Vision and Action Consciousness in Other Animals 7: THE EVOLUTION OF VISION ENDNOTES Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 GLOSSARY ART CREDITS Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Plate credits Index The Goldilocks Planet: The 4 billion year story of Earth’s climate What is Life?: How Chemistry Becomes Biology