Mice get a third eye
Not exactly, but they have got their vision enhanced thanks to the researchers at Johns Hopkins School of University. The enhanced vision is analogous to a hypothetical situation in which a person may get ability to see in the ultraviolet or infrared regions. Imagine, how the world would be if you could see in such extra-ordinary spectrums. No, you can’t imagine. It would be a completely different experience. Cool, eh.
Surprisingly, the mice’s brain quickly adapted to use the new enhanced vision. This means that brain can use new sensory information quickly. But how does the brain characterize and process the new sensory information immediately in a single generation. I mean, lets imagine a human-like organism which does not have the sense of smell. Now, when you artificially introduce such sense, how does the brain tell good smells from bad smells? Is there something inherent in smells (or sensory information in general) which make them good or bad? Or does the brain, over the course of evolution, learns such distinctions?
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31. May 2007 at 10:45
Hmm.. No, I think the UV or Infrared will constitute a whole new sense. But then, I have no way of proving this..
But, even taking UV issue, imagine if you suddenly are able to see in UV region. Can you ever imagine how it would feel or *look*? Personally, I cannot imagine the fact that I may be able to see more (as in information wise) than what I am currently able to.
28. June 2007 at 14:15
This is really interesting to hear, i am delighted to see this can be possible. Also the human like comparison is very relevant.