The eyes have it

Michael Heppell

November 28, 2024

Enjoying the Little Things

I was enjoying a Friday gin and tonic with our neighbours when we witnessed the most spectacular sunset.

I did that ridiculous thing (that almost everyone with a smartphone has) and tried to take a photograph of it.

Of course, it looked pants. The reason?

Eyes Are Brilliant

In fact, they are so brilliant that even when they don't work properly, they’re still infinitely better than a smartphone camera having the ability to focus on 50 different objects every second.

So are your other senses.

Miracles each one.

Taste

Take taste. There are six basic tastes: sweet, sour, bitter, umami, astringent, and pungent. Your amazing taste buds can detect their slightest difference, creating millions of flavours.

Smell

Flavour, of course, is helped by smell.

You can identify over a trillion different scents. And they are emotive. There is nothing quite like a smell to whisk you back to a faded memory. Grandma’s baking anyone?

Hearing

Knock knock! Did you know your hearing is working 24 hours a day?

So, when you think someone’s not listening… they are. It’s just their brain has chosen to tune you out.

Touch

That leaves touch.

There are four types of touch receptor – for detecting vibrations, slippage, when the skin stretches, and one for subtle textures (like the touch of a feather or when Mrs H brushes the bottom of my foot and I leap two feet).