Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Nature Blows My Mind! Optical Wonders of Insect Eyes

Jaymi Heimbuch.

© Kjell Sandved/Getty Images
Insect eyes are a wonder of natural engineering. Anyone can tell that bug eyes are special in a complex way with just one glance at their shape and construction. But when you get down into this marvel of natural engineering, the story gets even more interesting. Most insects have what are called compound eyes. As you've likely noticed, compound eyes are a mosaic-like structure of closely-packed ommatidia. Let's all say that outloud together now, ommatida. According to the handy Biology Online, these are "the structural and functional units of vision" and they vary in number depending on the insect. Some insect species have as few as six while others, like dragonflies, have over 25,000!...Continue reading...

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