Rainbows and shrimp keeping us humble

Radiolab

recently had an episode that explored

colors

.

One of the things that was covered in the episode was that the human eye has three cones which can pick up the colors that you and I see. Radiolab used the metaphor of a rainbow. You and I look at a rainbow and see the light break into that ROYGBIV combination.

Can you see the difference between eggshell and off white?

This shrimp can.

However, there are other animals which see different colors when looking at a rainbow. Some animals see few colors while other animals see more. When you listen to the episode you will learn of Mantis Shrimp that can see a huge array of color that humans could only dream of seeing.

That is right, compared to this shrimp, we are dramatically color blind.

It is humbling to know that there are other creatures out there that can see more than I can see. It reminds me that there are other people that can see what I cannot see. It reminds me that I am color blind on a good number of things.

Something to keep in mind as learn to live together.