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Chinese Boy Claims To Have Cat-Like Night Vision

Oswald McWeany writes "Reports swirling around the Internet are that a boy in China may have cat-like night vision. The boy with eerie blue-eyes was able to fill out a questionnaire in the dark and his eyes reflect like a cat's when a light is shined on them. No reports yet if he marks his territory or is litter box trained."

6 of 171 comments (clear)

  1. Re:What are the chances? by Nadaka · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That isn't how mutation works. There does not need to be a goal for something to happen. This could be the result of a single gene affecting the expression of many proteins, or it could be a mutation that activated some of the dormant genetic material.

  2. Re:What are the chances? by ByOhTek · · Score: 4, Insightful

    From an evolutionary standpoint, I would think such a radical mutation impossible

    From a reading-that-statement standpoint, I would think you having more than minimal education in the biological sciences would be impossible.

    Mutations are a contributing factor to evolution, not a sole cause of it, or caused by it. There is no "evolutionary standpoint" on a single mutation occuring.

    That being said, it may be an *unlikely* mutation, but with over 7billion people, quite a few people will have rather unlikely mutations. And a single point mutation could conceivably cause a change the density of photoreceptor in the eye, how good they are at capturing photons (the human eye "sees" only about 4-5% of the photons that pass through it).

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  3. Re:Blue eyes? by SJHillman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Wouldn't he be denied work there because he can see how bad he really has it?

  4. has this been verified or is it bullcrap? by Karmashock · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Looking for some authentication here...

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    1. Re:has this been verified or is it bullcrap? by bWareiWare.co.uk · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It is 100% verified bullcrap. The fact the voice-over SAYS his eyes glow like a cat's doesn't really cover up the fact the video shows they don't.
      How dose this stuff get on /.?

  5. Re:Can't capture on camera? by Oligonicella · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "Anecdotal reports in that class suggested that humans were selectively bred for lousy night vision; those whose eyes glowed in the dark were burned as witches or lynched as werewolves or whatever during the middle ages."

    No. I'm a long-time studier of that period because of all it's lunacy and a I don't recall glowing eyes being a big deal or mentioned at all, anecdote or otherwise. It was religious beliefs coupled with economics that powered the purges.

    Add to that the Middle Ages was European, and one has to wonder why the rest of the world's population of eye-glowers has disappeared?