Truly amazing and mind boggling is how the eye functions, which is why it interested me so much when Shubin slowly delineates just as to how it works and cooperates with the brain such as when the light receptors send "signals to our brain which interprets these signals as images". Also interesting was how special proteins called lens crystalins are "long lived" so it allows our eye lens to continue functioning despite aging. Our eyes are also able to see in color because of opsins, which made me think if this was how an ink jet printer only has 3 or 4 cartridges. Thanks to Shubin's constant reference to daily life experience as well I was able to understand just how these light gathering molecules function.
Just as when Shubin claimed that it was a possibility that primates have color vision due to the changes in flora. What I wonder however was what was the color of the flora before the changes creating color vision, was all flora green?, as Shubin stated that "monkeys used color vision to tell apart different fruits and leaves."
Once again as well Shubin relates humans to our ancestors, in this case, the bacteria as the twisted receptor paths is most identical to certain molecules in bacteria. I personally am ambivalent about such topics as evolution, however after reading this book I feel as if my perspective has changed profoundly.
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