Discovery
In 1991 Russell G. Foster and colleagues, including Ignacio Provencio, discovered a non-rod, non-cone photoreceptor in the eyes of mice. It was shown to mediate circadian rhythms, i.e. the body's 24-hour biological clock. Foster was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 2008. These novel cells express the photopigment melanopsin, which was first identified by Provencio and colleagues.
Read more about this topic: Photosensitive Ganglion Cell
Famous quotes containing the word discovery:
“That the discovery of this great truth, which lies so near and obvious to the mind, should be attained to by the reason of so very few, is a sad instance of the stupidity and inattention of men, who, though they are surrounded with such clear manifestations of the Deity, are yet so little affected by them, that they seem as it were blinded with excess of light.”
—George Berkeley (1685–1753)
“He is not a true man of science who does not bring some sympathy to his studies, and expect to learn something by behavior as well as by application. It is childish to rest in the discovery of mere coincidences, or of partial and extraneous laws. The study of geometry is a petty and idle exercise of the mind, if it is applied to no larger system than the starry one.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“One of the laudable by-products of the Freudian quackery is the discovery that lying, in most cases, is involuntary and inevitable—that the liar can no more avoid it than he can avoid blinking his eyes when a light flashes or jumping when a bomb goes off behind him.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)