Eyes are among the most complex organs in our bodies, yet many don’t realize they can detect over a million colors! Or that they blink approximately 10,000 times each day?
The eyes are testaments to evolution’s gradual refinement. Learn more about this amazing organ as well as a few easy strategies to maintain healthy vision for a lifetime.
1. It’s a camera
As much as we often associate cameras with mechanical devices, every person contains an incredible camera built right into their eyeball. Our technologically advanced cameras may now surpass human vision in certain ways; yet there exists another camera inside each individual eye – that of course is called vision! As light enters your eyes, it passes first through your corneas to begin focusing before being passed through a pupil (which can change size according to how much light is needed) before reaching its final destination: retina. Think of retina like an enormous high-resolution sensor. Human eyes boast an astoundingly high pixel density when we consider only their fovea – rivaling even that of RED Epic cameras! Furthermore, our eyes can even detect light sources in dim environments while simultaneously picking out tiny details on a screen even while moving your head around! All this incredible ability resides within something so small – just 2.5cm across!
2. It’s a lens
The clear, curved structure in our eyes behind the pupil known as the lens focuses light rays to form images on our retina, the light-sensitive layer of nerve tissue at the back of the eye. It bends and focuses light rays so they appear on this layer; we use our lens to focus on near or distant objects as well as see colors and shapes, like those projected by movie projectors; it is composed of transparent protein-rich tissues.
3. It’s a retina
Your eye has many components, but its retina in the back is the heart of its operations. Its sole job is to take in light through pupil and lens and convert it to electric signals sent down your optic nerve to your brain – not an easy feat! Your retina needs special features to do its work efficiently.
Start off by immersing your eyeball in clear jelly called aqueous humor to stay hydrated, nourished and round. Next comes passing through your pupil; this black circular opening in the center of your eye that can expand or contract to control how much light can enter through its pupil; finally this light passes through lens that works like a camera lens and focuses it onto retina, lined with millions of microscopic light-sensing nerve cells known as rods and cones that specialize in dark vision as well as side vision; rods excel in dark environments while cones allow color vision; lucky enough cones might help them pick out that dress being purple-gold rather than blue-white
Retinal nerve cells are linked together by blood vessels that bring in nourishment for your eyes. There’s also an area called the macula at the center of your retina responsible for detecting fine details; if you’re having difficulty reading small print or facial details, this could be because your macula is malfunctioning.
Now, this part of your eye cannot be seen with naked eyes (unless you’re an ophthalmologist), so doctors use special microscopes to show us what lies within. And it is absolutely beautiful.