[Aroid-l] Infrared

From: leo at possi.org (Leo A. Martin) on 2008.05.22 at 00:12:05(17602) Hermine wrote > I only recently found out > that certain flowers which to humans look WHITE, > appear to be like a Stanley Kubrik on LSD colour > fantasy beyond our ability to perceive the visible > spectrum, if one is a bug or other pollinating agent. The lens in our eye (behind the colored iris) stops the infrared. This is one among many possible causes of lenses going cloudy (known as a cataract.) It's good our lenses do so, because infrared is very damaging to our retina. Almost everybody who has cataract surgery nowadays has a small plastic lens implanted behind the iris. The artificial lens also stops the infrared. But it wasn't always so. In times past some people didn't have lenses implanted and had to wear very thick glasses instead. A LONG time ago, I think in the journal Science, an entomologist wrote a report. He deliberately refused an implanted lens so he could see what his subjects saw. He reported flowers looked very different - and not just the white ones. Lots of them have infrared landing targets. Leo Martin +More Phoenix Arizona USA

Note: this is a very old post, so no reply function is available.