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Island Tribes Develop Superior Underwater Vision
Artifice_Eternity writes "I found this Washington Post article fascinating. A tribe of skilled divers known as "sea gypsies" have developed a previously unknown physiological adaptation that gives them better vision underwater. Most humans see poorly underwater, because water has a similar refractive index to the fluid inside the eye, making it difficult to focus incoming light. But children of the Moken tribe compensate by shrinking their pupils (the same way photographers reduce a camera's aperture size to increase sharpness). Their underwater visual acuity is more than double that previously thought possible in humans. The article also describes other adaptations discovered in recent years that challenge our understanding of what the human body and brain can do." (Painless non-registration demographic click-through required.)
Cool the human body can do this. However, using a diving mask gives the best sight.
I am short-sighted, so i put a pair of glasses without the legs in the diving mask.
There is a widely cited paper on the topic of how learning can guide evolution. Abstract here:
How learning can guide evolution
Can anyone find an online version of the full article?