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Obligatory Oatmeal comic about the Mantis Shrimp: https://theoatmeal.com/comics/mantis_shrimp https://theoatmeal.com/comics/mantis_shrimp

by vmoore 4y ago

tootie 4y ago
Also https://radiolab.org/episodes/211119-colors https://radiolab.org/episodes/211119-colors Also of interest, mantis shrimp are edible and quite delicious.
ilovecurl 4y ago
Obligatory Ze Frank vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5FEj9U-CJM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5FEj9U-CJM The Oatmeal claims that, "the mantis shrimp sees a thermonuclear bomb of light and beauty." This piece contradicts that claim: "Mantis shrimp have twelve photoreceptor classes. Humans have three. We derive a spectrum of colors through comparisons between our three classes; this is called the opponent process or opponency. Mantis shrimp do not do this. They collapse the spectrum into just twelve colors."
- e40 4y ago
  I’d forgotten about Ze. Wow, what a wild ride his 365 day vlogging experiment was. It was the first and most precious thing I did everyday for almost a year.
  - philwebster 4y ago
    His History of Mens Underwear video was one of the best: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNRX8kfGgYg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNRX8kfGgYg
    - e40 4y ago
      That's a good one, thanks. I actually started watching The Show from the beginning, but I don't know if I'll make it all the way through.
- rojobuffalo 4y ago
  Ya, that's a lovely comic, but it appears to be a misconception. That comic is actually specifically called out in the book on page 107. It's more like a 12 color lookup table. > Every kind of red stimulates the bottom receptor of row 3. All shades of violet stimulate the top receptor on row 1 That's based on an experiment where they were trained to attack colored lights for a reward. The comic also says they have 16 color receptors, but the other 4 (2 in the midband and 2 in the hemispheres), as far as anyone knows, aren't involved in color vision.
  - GoldenRacer 4y ago
    Would they be able to distinguish between a light that is pure orange (a single 600nm wave length) and a light that is a mix of red and yellow that gives humans the perception of orange? If so, I think that's still kind of a cool thing to think about.
    - shrx 4y ago
      It is my understanding that a mix of red and yellow frequencies would trigger the corresponding yellow and red-sensitive receptors, if it has them, but not orange.
      - rojobuffalo 4y ago
        That's my impression as well. It's an interesting question. If you want to read more, the two researchers quoted in the book that I was summarizing are Justin Marshal and Mike Land. Each has a handful of papers that are cited in the bibliography.
- mattkrause 4y ago
  They actually do some comparison between colors, but it's implemented in a weird, alien way. Instead of co-located and connected cones for different colors, they drag their eyes across a scene, so the comparison can happen across time instead, like a push broom sensor.

Obligatory Oatmeal comic about the Mantis Shrimp: https://theoatmeal.com/comics/mantis_shrimp https://theoatmeal.com/comics/mantis_shrimp

by vmoore 4y ago

Obligatory Oatmeal comic about the Mantis Shrimp: https://theoatmeal.com/comics/mantis_shrimp https://theoatmeal.com/comics/mantis_shrimp

tootie 4y ago

Also https://radiolab.org/episodes/211119-colors https://radiolab.org/episodes/211119-colors Also of interest, mantis shrimp are edible and quite delicious.

ilovecurl 4y ago

Obligatory Ze Frank vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5FEj9U-CJM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5FEj9U-CJM The Oatmeal claims that, "the mantis shrimp sees a thermonuclear bomb of light and beauty." This piece contradicts that claim: "Mantis shrimp have twelve photoreceptor classes. Humans have three. We derive a spectrum of colors through comparisons between our three classes; this is called the opponent process or opponency. Mantis shrimp do not do this. They collapse the spectrum into just twelve colors."

e40 4y ago
I’d forgotten about Ze. Wow, what a wild ride his 365 day vlogging experiment was. It was the first and most precious thing I did everyday for almost a year.
- philwebster 4y ago
  His History of Mens Underwear video was one of the best: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNRX8kfGgYg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNRX8kfGgYg
  - e40 4y ago
    That's a good one, thanks. I actually started watching The Show from the beginning, but I don't know if I'll make it all the way through.
rojobuffalo 4y ago
Ya, that's a lovely comic, but it appears to be a misconception. That comic is actually specifically called out in the book on page 107. It's more like a 12 color lookup table. > Every kind of red stimulates the bottom receptor of row 3. All shades of violet stimulate the top receptor on row 1 That's based on an experiment where they were trained to attack colored lights for a reward. The comic also says they have 16 color receptors, but the other 4 (2 in the midband and 2 in the hemispheres), as far as anyone knows, aren't involved in color vision.
- GoldenRacer 4y ago
  Would they be able to distinguish between a light that is pure orange (a single 600nm wave length) and a light that is a mix of red and yellow that gives humans the perception of orange? If so, I think that's still kind of a cool thing to think about.
  - shrx 4y ago
    It is my understanding that a mix of red and yellow frequencies would trigger the corresponding yellow and red-sensitive receptors, if it has them, but not orange.
    - rojobuffalo 4y ago
      That's my impression as well. It's an interesting question. If you want to read more, the two researchers quoted in the book that I was summarizing are Justin Marshal and Mike Land. Each has a handful of papers that are cited in the bibliography.
mattkrause 4y ago
They actually do some comparison between colors, but it's implemented in a weird, alien way. Instead of co-located and connected cones for different colors, they drag their eyes across a scene, so the comparison can happen across time instead, like a push broom sensor.