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  • Shades of blue, green, brown, hazel, the world is filled with a vast array of eye colors.

  • And since these colors are determined by chemical and structural differences in the eye,

  • it might seem logical that different eye colors see the world in different ways.

  • But scientists haven't really found evidence for that.

  • Other than health risks associated with certain colors, an eye is an eye.

  • Eye color mostly comes down to how much pigmentation you have in your iris.

  • Your iris is that colored area surrounding your pupil

  • the black hole in the center of your eye that lets light in.

  • People with brown eyes have dark irises because their DNA codes for genes that lead to the production of more melanin,

  • a brownish-black pigment that absorbs light.

  • While people with lighter eyes produce less melanin, so more light gets into their eyes

  • hence why they're more sensitive to things like fluorescent lighting or the sun.

  • But melanin isn't the whole story

  • shades of blue and gray are based on the quantity and arrangement of structural fibers like collagen,

  • which scatter light in slightly different ways.

  • But even then, what you ultimately end up with is different amounts of light entering different colored eyes.

  • So you might think those eye colors see things differently

  • like, one might have better vision.

  • But the long and short of it is: not really?

  • Studies have generally failed to find significant differences in seeing ability between eye colors.

  • Although people with lighter colored eyes

  • may experience more discomfort on a sunny day thanks to that whole more-light-in thing.

  • Some biologists think that may mean they can see better in dimmer conditions,

  • like when it's cloudy or at nightbut so far, this hasn't been conclusively demonstrated.

  • Interestingly, studies have found that people with darker eyes tend to be worse at perceiving colors,

  • but that might be due to other differences between the eyes of the people tested, like pupil size.

  • And one weird thing that keeps popping up is a difference in athletic performance between different eye colors.

  • Several studies in the 70s and 80s suggested that darker eyes have slightly faster reaction times on the order of 10 to 30 milliseconds.

  • Some found people with darker eyes performed better at reactive tasks like hitting an oncoming ball or boxing,

  • while those with lighter eyes were better at non-reactive tasks, like bowling or golf.

  • And that might have something to do with the amount or quality of light that melanin absorbs.

  • But the most likely hypothesis for this actually has little to do with eyesight.

  • It's thought that melanin in the iris correlates to levels of neuromelanin in the central nervous system

  • a related set of pigments that may help speed up neuronal signaling.

  • And in general, the studies that found differences between eye colors tended to have

  • small sample sizes and questionable statistics.

  • More recent replication attempts haven't gotten the same results.

  • So it's hard to say if iris color really affects vision.

  • And even if it does, most experts think the effects are really slight.

  • What iris color does impact is eye health, as lighter eyes are more prone to problems like macular degeneration

  • the failing of the region of the eye that lets us see objects directly in front of us.

  • And that means people with blue eyes might want to be a bit more careful about

  • wearing sunglasses and eating lots of leafy green veggies to keep those macula healthy.

  • But reallythose are things we should all do anyways.

  • So this week, we've all been talking about Skillshare classes we enjoy,

  • and I know I just talked about eyes and vision for this whole video,

  • but this is the last day of the week and it's important to remember that sound also matters in video.

  • And luckily, Skillshare has all kinds of classes on audio recording, mixing, and mastering.

  • No matter what your skill level or what tools you have access to,

  • there's most likely a class that will fit your needs.

  • Whether you just want to record a song, or need to mix vocals with background room tone on your iPhone,

  • or want to start your own ASMR channel, you'll learn something on Skillshare.

  • I took this class on Building an Immersive Soundscape taught by artist and filmmaker L. Ashwyn Corris

  • because I wanted to learn a little bit more about Audition.

  • And what I liked about that class is that she approaches it in a hands on way,

  • explaining her technical knowledge but she's also talking about how she thinks about

  • using sound creatively to set the tone of her piece.

  • If you want to check it out, Skillshare is offering SciShow viewers, and listeners, 2 months of Skillshare for free right now.

  • Just click on the link in the description to take advantage of this deal and to learn more about sound,

  • or video, or productivity, or really anything you can imagine!

  • Thanks for watching and thanks to Skillshare for not only offering our viewers 2 months of free classes,

  • but also for supporting SciShow and helping us keep our videos free to you always.

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