My Wife is No Mantis Shrimp (or is she?)



The mantis shrimp has the most sophisticated visual system in the animal kingdom-- they have from 12 to 16 different kinds of rods and cones (dogs have two kinds of photoreceptors and we have a measly three) but paradoxically, they are absolutely awful at differentiating between colors . . . I'm not even going to attempt to explain why, other than to point out that it might have something to do with communication between mantis shrimp . . . very specific colors might mean things to them but the shades in between certainly do not . . . you can read this or listen to the new Radiolab to get the some of the details (scientific investigation is still underway on the root cause of this contradiction) but I will offer an analogy: while my wife is much better than me at seeing, perceiving, and visually assessing nearly everything in the real and/or aesthetic universe, she did think the shirt I was wearing this morning was green (when it was clearly blue) so I sent her a picture to clear things up.


6 comments:

  1. dave should start a new band called adam and the pedants

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  2. I think you should leave what Catherine sees, listens to, likes, dislikes, says, feels, etc. out of your blog for a few months. Dr. Phil.

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  3. That she sees and listens to Dave but still likes him is a miracle.

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  4. That she still selectively sleeps with him reeks of charity.

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  5. I suppose she does have needs, after all.

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  6. Next years shirt is gonna be pink.

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