Our eyesight is adapted to recognise certain shapes and patterns, particularly those similar to the elongate bodies and scaly skin of snakes. Some researchers suggest this stems from an ancient mechanism in our neurology that enabled our ancestors to be particularly effective at recognising snakes. This implies that like other higher primates today, our ancestors needed to be particularly wary of these lithe predators. This visual acuity for patterns also applies to faces. In fact we can see snakes and faces in almost anything… (Image: Wikimedia commons)
Ronald Fisher was an evolutionary biologist and statistician. He is perhaps best known for inventing an array of revolutionary statistical procedures that could be used within the natural sciences, but his contribution to our understanding of evolution goes far beyond the statistical tests with which he most widely and commonly associated.
Seeing red: for happy faces, or snakes in the grass?
We see red: dogs don’t. Our eyes emphasise contrasts, making it easier to spot colours, patterns, and rhythmical movements. But no two people see red in the same way. How has our vision evolved, and why?
Blind evolution gives eyeless fish sleepless nights
As the bats chatter above you in the cavern roof, their droppings rain down into the pool below. The floor…
Although this is intended as a light-hearted guide to areas of science that might interest you, it serves to illustrate the inter-disciplinary nature of science.
