Your Eyes

At the most basic level, our eyes are light-detecting organs that give us vision. The fact that most animals have eyes of some sort indicates that vision is very important for survival. For humans, vision goes beyond basic survival, because our eyes not only can detect light and dark, but also shapes, colour, and depth. To many of us, the ability to appreciate a painting, enjoy a movie, or observing our surroundings gives us pleasure, a lifestyle, and in some cases, even our identity.

The sequence of events that translate light detected by our eyes to the vision that we come to know of is incredibly complex. Initially, light enters the pupil, and is focused onto the retina by the lens (cornea). The retina is made up of light-sensitive nerve cells called rods and cones, in reference to their shape. A part of the retina called the macula contains a large number of rod and cone cells. Through these cells, the light detected by the retina is translated into electrical signals, which travel along the optic nerve to the brain. As this information is then interpreted and processed into what we “see”, be it a painting, a movie, or the stars in the sky.