this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2023
70 points (78.7% liked)

Showerthoughts

29648 readers
1246 users here now

A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.

Rules

  1. All posts must be showerthoughts
  2. The entire showerthought must be in the title
  3. Avoid politics (NEW RULE as of 5 Nov 2024, trying it out)
  4. Posts must be original/unique
  5. Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

What’s your new favorite color now???

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 4am@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

In other words:

  • eyes that worked well in those color frequencies we know as “visible light” were able to find food and dodge danger better.
  • Those creatures lived longer and had babies who shared those traits
  • eyes that were more sensitive to other frequencies couldn’t work as well due to the environment they existed in, and as a result didn’t survive as well.
  • Not as many of them left to mate (hell, could have had a hard time even finding a mate!)

This is how natural selection optimizes life traits. It takes hundreds of thousands of generations for profound effects to emerge. You’re currently at the bleeding edge of life tech. Enjoy the details!

[–] fubo@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Eyes have evolved in several separate animal lineages. You, a bee, an octopus, and a box-jellyfish all have eyes, but their most recent common ancestors did not have eyes. Your eyes are different in many ways from those other species', but they all have to make use of sunlight filtered through a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere and water. So it's unsurprising that they end up with some similar "design" features.