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The iris (pl.: irides or irises) is a thin, annular structure in the eye in most mammals and birds that is responsible for controlling the diameter and size of the pupil, and thus the amount of light reaching the retina. In optical terms, the pupil is the eye's aperture, while the iris is the diaphragm. Eye color is defined by the iris.
Human eyes (particularly the iris and its color) and the area surrounding the eye (lids, lashes, brows) have long been a key component of physical attractiveness. Eye contact plays a significant role in human nonverbal communication. A prominent limbal ring (dark ring around the iris of the eye) is considered attractive. [108]
The irises of human eyes exhibit a wide spectrum of colours. Eye color is a polygenic phenotypic trait determined by two factors: the pigmentation of the eye's iris [1] [2] and the frequency-dependence of the scattering of light by the turbid medium in the stroma of the iris. [3]: 9
Light enters the eye through the pupil, and the iris regulates the amount of light by controlling the size of the pupil. This is known as the pupillary light reflex. The iris contains two groups of smooth muscles; a circular group called the sphincter pupillae, and a radial group called the dilator pupillae. When the sphincter pupillae contract ...
Although the processes determining eye color are not fully understood, it is known that inherited eye color is determined by multiple genes. Environmental or acquired factors can alter these inherited traits. [7] The color of the mammalian, including human, iris is very variable. However, there are only two pigments present, eumelanin and ...
Diagram of a human eye; note that not all eyes have the same anatomy as a human eye. The mammalian eye can also be divided into two main segments: the anterior segment and the posterior segment. [10] The human eye is not a plain sphere but is like two spheres combined, a smaller, more sharply curved one and a larger lesser curved sphere.
The highest such number that the eye can resolve as stripes, or distinguish from a grey block, is then the measurement of visual acuity of the eye. For a human eye with excellent acuity, the maximum theoretical resolution is 50 CPD [43] (1.2 arcminute per line pair, or a 0.35 mm line pair, at 1 m).
The human eye, showing the iris and pupil. In 1802, philosopher William Paley called it a miracle of "design."In 1859, Charles Darwin himself wrote in his Origin of Species, that the evolution of the eye by natural selection seemed at first glance "absurd in the highest possible degree". [3]