Talks.cam

Computational Neuroscience Journal Club - Department of Zoology, Cambridge
2023-10-10 13:00 - 14:00 UTC | CBL Seminar Room, Engineering Department, 4th floor Baker building
Please join us for our fortnightly Computational Neuroscience journal club on Tuesday 10th October at 2pm UK time in the CBL seminar room, or online on zoom.

The title is ‘A new look at eye design’, presented by Simon Laughlin.

Zoom information:
https://eng-cam.zoom.us/j/84204498431?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 842 0449 8431 Passcode: [REDACTED]

Summary:
An animal invests resources in an eye’s optics and photoreceptor array to meet behavioural needs economically. Thus eyes are adapted to meet these needs using designs that inspire physicists and engineers and provide opportunities for biologists to discover how complicated organs evolve. We take a new look at eye design by asking a question that is commonplace in engineering, but has not been addressed by biologists; how should the space, materials and energy invested in an eye be allocated to optics and photoreceptor array? To provide answers we develop a new cost:benefit approach that uses optical, geometrical and physiological constraints to link investments to an eye’s ability to capture information from light. Our models and data analysis show that eyes are configured efficiently. Photoreceptor costs dominate and influence the structure of the entire eye by competing with optics for resources.
