• Question: Is there a reason why our eyes are sphere?

    Asked by shamail155 to Amar, Ana, Andrea, Leah, Matt on 9 Mar 2014.
    • Photo: Andrea Hanvey

      Andrea Hanvey answered on 9 Mar 2014:

      Eyes are round due to evolution…they are the most efficient shape…because they can rotate in any direction. As they are round they can refract light from any direction allowing us to see the correct size and shape of other objects

      some eyes are not perfectly round this leads to a condition called astigmatism where they eye is shaped like a rugby ball

    • Photo: Anastasia Wass

      Anastasia Wass answered on 10 Mar 2014:

      Our eyes first became round balls so we could tell where light was coming from. If the eye is round then light hits it at an angle, the brain can then use this angle to tell the direction of the light.

    • Photo: Matthew Lam

      Matthew Lam answered on 10 Mar 2014:

      Evolution has led to us having round eyes.

      This shape of eyeball at some point in time would have provided a survival advantage. This meant that members of a species with round eyes would have out-lived those that didn’t and be more likely to pass their genes on to the next generation. Eventually, the only members of that species left would be those with round eyes.

      As the others have said, having round eyes is the most efficient shape for us to see properly and it is this advantage that would have helped our ancient ancestors survive.

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