Raise your eye IQ with these fun facts about the human eye.
You know your eyes help you see, but they’re even more incredible than you may think. Here are some amazing and surprising facts about your eyes.
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#1: Your Eye is Uniquely Yours
Wonder why you’re seeing those retina scans as the airport more and more? While a fingerprint has 40 unique characteristics, an iris has 256 making it the significantly more secure option. Your eye color is just as unique and is determined by many factors including heritage, melanin, and the specific way that light hits the iris
#2: Not So Many Shades of Grey
Despite what the popular novel tells us, the human eye can only detect about 30 shades of gray. Some researchers put that number even lower, closer to 8 to 10. We’re able to distinguish around ten million distinct colors.
#3: The Most Active Muscles
The most actives muscles are in your eyes, especially in women. Research has found that men blink an average of 11 times per minute while women blink an average of 19. We typically spend 10% of our wake time with our eyes closed
#4: Better Than the Best Camera
Think the camera in your brand-new smartphone is good? If the human eye was a digital camera, it would have 576 megapixels, nearly 50 times more than the iPhone X. Even the world’s most powerful hand-held camera, which costs nearly $48,000, has one sixth of the megapixels of the human eye.
#5: One of the Most Complex Organs
There are more than 2 million working parts. Eyes are the second most complex organ after the brain. In fact, seeing is so important it takes up more than half the brain’s functionality. 80% of what we learn and remember is through our eyes so it’s extra important to take care of them.
Bonus Fact!
Ignore what your older sister told you. You can sneeze with your eyes open without them falling out. We promise.
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