Another observation after reading the article again, reminds me of the explanation for vampires unable to stand crucifixes in Peter Watt's Blindsight: "a cross

Another observation after reading the article again, reminds me of the explanation for vampires unable to stand crucifixes in Peter Watt's Blindsight: "a cross-wiring of normally-distinct receptor arrays in the visual cortex, resulting in grand mal-like feedback seizures whenever the arrays processing vertical and horizontal stimuli fired simultaneously across a sufficiently large arc of the visual field. Since intersecting right angles are virtually nonexistent in nature, natural selection did not weed out the Glitch until H. sapiens sapiens developed Euclidean architecture; by then, the trait had become fixed across H. sapiens vampiris via genetic drift, and – suddenly denied access to its prey – the entire subspecies went extinct shortly after the dawn of recorded history."