I need to take about a week off to tend to some urgent family matters. When I come back I'll offer you a series of posts about Siberia.
Image (credit June Aubrey Young) via the QI elves' (creators of my favorite podcasts) Twitter feed.
Addendum: An interesting comment from reader Steve -
Pseudopupils are pretty neat. What you're actually seeing is ommatidia that are oriented directly toward the viewer (camera lens). Instead of seeing the pigmented walls of the ommatidium you are seeing right into the photoreceptors. The dark spots will even appear to follow you as you move around the insect but the insect is not actually moving anything. Some spiders can move their retina to look around though, which is pretty awesome.
Shades of Gary Larson.
ReplyDeletePseudopupils are pretty neat. What you're actually seeing is ommatidia that are oriented directly toward the viewer (camera lens). Instead of seeing the pigmented walls of the ommatidium you are seeing right into the photoreceptors. The dark spots will even appear to follow you as you move around the insect but the insect is not actually moving anything. Some spiders can move their retina to look around though, which is pretty awesome.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info, steve. I've appended your comment to the body of the post.
DeleteI hope all is okay with you and your family. We miss you Stan!
ReplyDelete