the.com/photoreceptor
The eye's pixel: a cell whose entire career is turning light into rumor.
means A specialized nerve cell in the retina that converts incoming light into electrical signals your brain can read.
from Built from Greek photos, light, plus Latin receptor, one who receives — a hybrid coined when nineteenth-century science needed a word for biology's tiny light detectors.
Two typesRods handle dim light, cones handle color.
HeadcountAbout 120 million rods, 6 million cones each eye.
Wired backwardLight passes the cell before reaching its sensor.
Chemical trickA molecule literally bends shape when struck by light.