People with blue eyes may have better sight in dim conditions than those with brown eyes, which could explain why the colour has persisted in certain populations
People with blue eyes can read better in darker conditions than those with brown eyes, a small study has found. This suggests having blue eyes is an advantage in low-light conditions, and might help explain why the trait evolved in northern Europe. But the finding needs to be confirmed in a larger study.
“It’s preliminary,” says Kyoko Yamaguchi at Liverpool John Moores University in the UK, who studies the genetic…
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People with blue eyes may have better sight in dim conditions than those with brown eyes, according to LJMU
LJMU
Sir John Moores CBE (25 January 1896 – 25 September 1993) was an English businessman, telegraphist, football club owner, politician and philanthropist, most famous for the founding of the now defunct Littlewoods retail and football pools company. Liverpool John Moores University is named in his honour.
research reported in New Scientist. The theory could explain why the colour has persisted in certain populations, for example in Northern Europe where skies are darker.
While lighter-colored eyes may be more sensitive to sunlight, they are not necessarily more sensitive to vision. In fact, blue eyes have better visual acuity than brown eyes. This means that blue-eyed people can see small details more clearly.
Generally speaking, patients with lighter color irises, such as blue or gray, experience more light sensitivity than someone with brown eyes. The density of pigment in light eyes is less than that of a darker colored iris. When light hits a dark-colored iris, the higher density in pigment blocks the light rays.
On average, blue-eyed subjects needed 0.7 lux of ambient lighting, compared with 0.82 lux for those with brown eyes. “It's likely depigmented irises provide an adaptive advantage,” said Dr Yamaguchi.
Individuals with lighter eye colours, like blue or green, tend to have greater sensitivity to sunlight. This heightened sensitivity doesn't only affect your visual comfort but can also have implications for your long-term eye health.
People with blue eyes may have better sight in dim conditions than those with brown eyes, according to LJMU research reported in New Scientist. The theory could explain why the colour has persisted in certain populations, for example in Northern Europe where skies are darker.
People with grey eyes are perceived to be the smartest. Blue-eyed people are seen as being the most expressive. Those with green eyes are deemed adventurous. Brown eyes are perceived the most kind.
Because less melanin allows for more light to pass through the eye, those with blue eyes can often tolerate longer periods of lower light. Blue eyes appear to have a lower risk of developing cataracts than brown eyes.
Despite a lack of scientific support, most people probably have an opinion about eye color and personality traits. Respondents perceived people with gray eyes to be intelligent, quiet, and serious. Meanwhile, blue-eyed people were perceived to be expressive, affectionate, and confident.
While the global data on eye colors is limited, red and violet eyes are likely the rarest eye colors since they only affect a small group of people with albinism. But if you exclude eye colors brought on by albinism, then green and gray are likely the rarest.
Why Are Green Eyes So Rare? The chance of being born with green eyes hinges on a "complex interplay" of multiple genes and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), "making precise prediction challenging," Sexton noted.
One thing these survey results have in common is that light-colored eyes — green, gray, blue, and hazel — are named as the most attractive eye colors in the world.
When broken down by gender, men ranked gray, blue, and green eyes as the most attractive, while women said they were most attracted to green, hazel, and gray eyes. Despite brown eyes ranking at the bottom of our perceived attraction scale, approximately 79% of the world's population sports melanin-rich brown eyes.
Studies show that in a loud environment, brown-eyed people have less hearing loss than people whose eyes have a blue hue. It's believed to be because brown-eyed folks have more melanin (the pigment that gives your skin, hair, and eyes their color) in their eyes and ears.
Eye color doesn't significantly affect the sharpness of your vision, but it can affect visual comfort in certain situations. It all comes down to the density of the pigment melanin within your iris, which determines what colors of light are absorbed or reflected.
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