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  • The paper on which the article is based:

    https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09978-w

    Damsgaard, C., Skøtt, M.V., Williams, C.J.A. et al. Oxygen-free metabolism in the bird inner retina supported by the pecten. Nature 650, 657–663 (2026).

    by mmooss
  • The photography of the bird eyes in the article is stunning especially the 3x3 grid.
    by julienchastang
  • It is plausible that the original non-avian theropod dinosaurs which gave rise to avian theropod dinosaurs like modern birds were more vision-oriented predators than mammalian predators.

    That would have favored eyes built for sharper vision at the expense of higher metabolic demands.

    The different evolutionary track may come from the fact that theropods stood upright on two legs, so they could scan farther across the landscape. Also, they were active during the day. Early mammals, by contrast, were mostly nocturnal, so hearing and smell mattered more than sharp vision.

    Interestingly, humans have some of the best vision in the animal kingdom and humans are both upright standing and diurnal, i.e. active in the daytime.

    by ETH_start
  • > Could this be an adaptation, or is it a coincidence of evolutionary history?

    Ha! It’s the same thing.

    by VeninVidiaVicii
  • > The retina is one of the body’s most energetically expensive tissues.

    I never knew, but it explains why when you close to fainting you lose your vision. Or when you are working at high heart rate close to your maximum. It works as a kind of a warning sign, than you are probably shouldn't try it that hard.

    > The lack of blood vessels could also offer birds the advantage of better vision.

    Now they are ready to reintroduce blood vessels back, but this time behind the retina.

    by ordu
  • Yet birds eyes still have nerves on top of light sensitive cells, obstructing the light. Birds also have a blind spot on each eye where nerves need to pierce the retina to go to brain.

    Contrast with squid eyes, that have nerves underneath the light sensitive cells. No blind spots, better light sensitivity.

    by deepsun
  • I've only discovered Quanta this year but it's quickly become my favourite publication. The focus on quality articles across science, and especially pure maths, feels very unique. I don't know whether it's profitable or reliant on the Simons Foundation funding - but hopefully it's a sustainable business model that will stick around.
    by ainch
  • > (tumor cells often use anaerobic glycolysis to make energy)

    More generally, human cancers cells often seem like they've rolled-back to an earlier, atavistic set of behaviors.

    I wonder if that's a "direction" of random mutations which is less-likely to be attacked by the immune system, because it leads to things that are less-alien because they were normal at one point. (Or may still be normal in limited contexts.)

    Ex:

    > The hallmarks of cancer are not the acquisition of novel behaviors due to genomic mutation but rather the re-deployment of ancient, unicellular programs that support survival of the cell at the expense of the host and break the contract of cooperation required for multicellular life.

    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00796...

    by Terr_

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