What Is The Mantis Shrimp

There are approximately 8.5 million known species in the world. Each one sees differently. A few species’ vision is more advanced than others; as humans we are very limited to what we can see compared to other animals. Birds of prey have the ability to see extreme detail at far distances. A bee has hundreds of six-sided lens and together the lenses form a single image. And an octopus’s eye has no blind spot. Each of these species’ eyesight has evolved overtime to adapt to survival needs.

Organisms possess several types of color vision depending on what wavelengths they are sensitive to. Humans are trichromatic, because their vision is formed by long, middle and short wavelength sensitive cones (Carroll, et.al, 2009). Depending on the environment, primates will have different variations of color vision. (Melin, et.al, 2017). Routine trichromacy and polymorphic trichromacy both track different food sources. Routine trichromacy is helpful for tracking down reddish-yellow fruit and seasonal leaves while polymorphic trichromacy is helpful for tracking down ripe fruits and insects (Melin, et.al, 2017).

If an Infrared Light with a wavelength of 750 nm were to be observed by humans, they would not be able to because none of their cone cells are sensitive to this wavelength of light, in a similar manner that the blue cone cells weren’t sensitive to the 600 nm wavelength of light. It is only possible for the human brain to view lights that are absorbed by their photoreceptor cells.

The complex eyes and polarized vision of the mantis shrimp has influenced a group of researchers to create a camera than can detect various forms of cancer. Polarized light is a light that radiates in different planes of direction, similar to looking at a white wall and a black table and can be used to see things the human eye can’t, such as cancer cells. Research conducted shows that its sensor has the ability to detect cancerous legions before cells can become abundant enough to appear as visible tumors. Associate professor of computer science and engineering at Washington University, Viktor Gruev, whose lab worked on building the sensor, says that polarized light makes it easier to see cancer cells because their disorganized and invasive

Although we cannot personally see it, polarized light is everywhere and the ability to capture it could be useful in numerous ways. The first question is then, how does the mantis shrimp do it? Similar to many other crustaceans, the mantis shrimp has light receptors in the optical units of their compound eyes that are sensitive to linearly polarized light. Nevertheless, it is a particular row of 6 units around the middle of their eyes known as the “midband” that makes them so unique. Inside these 6 rows are 3 different types of “rhabdoms” that attach to their receptors and occupy 2 rows each. These “rhabdoms” are specifically shaped to convert circularly polarized light into the much easier to process linear variety [5]. Inspired by this, researchers have made artificial “waveplates” that are “[comprised of] two layers of tantalum pentoxide nanorods structurally similar to those in the eye of the mantis shrimp [6]” and can alter polarized light in similar ways. They hope to someday be able to manipulate the polarization of light without changing the resulting colours and achieve results in “higher definition and larger storage density for optical media

In order to make the proper patterns from the visual signal, the octopi create chromatic patterns through the use of chromatophores in the skin. A chromoatophore is a pigment cell surrounded by muscle fibers found below the skin. The pigments in cephalopod chromatophores commonly include yellow, red, and brown. The chromatophore lobes in the octopus brain control the muscle fibers. Through electrical coupling between the muscle fibers and phasic and tonic contractions, the chromatophores are able to adjust the pigment in the skin (Boyle and Dubas, 1985). In addition to chromatophores are iridophores and leucophores. Iridophores reflect short wavelength colors in contrast to the long wavelength colors of the chromatophores. Due to iridophores, octopi are able to perceive white polarized light giving them an advantage against their predators. On the other hand, leucophores diffuse ambient light and allow for dark pigmentation. In addition to the pigmentation, octopi are able to change the texture of their skin through the use of papillae in the skin. Through the ability to change the skin pigmentation by the constriction of chromatophores and activation of both iridophores and leucophores, octopi are equipped to change their pigmentation to match their visual field. When posed with an environment with distinct structure and

Thumbing through the pages of Business Week, the headline read Maybe Jaws Can Put the Bite on Cancer. Interested, I continued to read the short article. According to the reporter, Otis Port, researchers at California State University in Fresno say that they have isolated four substances in shark cartilage that appear to inhibit cancer (93). Curious, I continued to read the rest of the article. The chemicals block a mechanism discovered in the mid-1980s at Harvard University: Tumor cells secrete a protein called angiogenin that entices blood vessels to grow close to cancers and nourish them. The shark extracts counteract angiogenin and the tumor starves (93). I sat there pondering the

2. Major Achievements in Cancer Research, Cancer Research Network – The University of Sydney, viewed 26th of March 2009, http://www.cancerresearch.med.usyd.edu.au/research/achieve.php

While cephalopods and humans differ across myriad systems, some similarities can be seen between the visual systems of both species. For many animals, color perception is determined via multiple types of photoreceptors that differ in spectral sensitivity. Explained by the trichromatic theory of color vision, the response rate of these different types of photoreceptors allow the human brain to determine the spectral reflection of different objects in the environment. The use of spectral channels for perception of color works well in well-lit environments; however, due to a lower signal to noise ratio, this approach leads to decreased sensitivity in low-light scenarios (Banks, Sprague, Schmoll, Parnell, & Love, 2015). Due to this decreased sensitivity,

Mechanisms for color change in vertebrates vary as to how and why they are able to change color. Ectothermic vertebrates can display a variety of color changes whether just a simple change or a complex change. Completing this change can take the vertebrate a few minutes to several hours. The change of the color could stem from an interest in a mate, aggression, finding prey or hiding from a predator. These are all examples from an environmental perceptive for either standing out against or matching their background. However the mechanism for their change lies not only on the surface of their skin, but also several layers within their skin. Ectothermic vertebrate skins have been studied numerous times to understand how they are able to

The therapeutic properties of light have a long history. The ancient Indians discovered, in 1,000 BCE that light therapy, in addition to psoralens, a plant compound, could cure vitiligo (Barr, H. et al., 2002). In the early 20th century, Niels Finsen’s and his wife’s treatment of lupus vulgaris with ultra-violet light notably earned them the Nobel Price (Barr, H. et al., 2002). A more modern application of light’s theraputic properties is photodynamic therapy. Photodynamic therapy destroys tumours through the use of a photosensitizer, oxygen, and light in a wavelength specific to the photosensitizer (Brown & Ibbotson, 2009, p. 251; Barr, Kendall, Reyes-Goddard & Stone, 2002, p. 136). First, the photosensitizer is administered (Brown & Ibbotson,

Photodynamic therapy uses light energy and drugs that react specifically to that energy to kill cancer cells. It is in the early stages of testing for efficacy against

Biology relates to the human eye because if we didn't have certain organs or cells we would be able to see.There is three types of cells found in the human eye that allows us to see what's going. The first cell is called the Cone cell this plays a big part when were visualizing something.This cell is located in the retina and their role in the human eye is for colour vision and in relativity bright.The Cone cells also help us see colour for example red , green and blue also cones cells are less sensitive to light the also are able to add small details to the image and more faster changes to the image.

In psychology, sensation and perception play an extremely important role in the way we view the world by using Trichromacy of our rods and cones. Because it has been scientifically proven that normal color vision relies on retinal cones due to wavelengths, scientist Robert M. Chapman decided to conduct an experiment using Bullfrogs to discover what their light wavelength and energy preferences were of their rods and cones.

Almost all animals and a fair amount of plants are photosensitive. Photosensitive is the ability to detect and react to light. Many organisms can only recognise simple light, and react to them, however their eyes are not developed enough to recognise colour or images. To be able to form an image, an organism needs far more developed eyes. Almost all vertebrates, and some more