Quanta Magazine May 13, 2026 • 14:08

How the Bird Eye Was Pushed to an Evolutionary Extreme - Quanta Magazine

How the Bird Eye Was Pushed to an Evolutionary Extreme - Quanta Magazine

The bird retina is one of the most energetically expensive tissues in the animal kingdom, yet it doesn’t use the energy advantage of oxygen. New research finally explains how this is possible.

Their findings provide compelling evidence for the role of the pecten oculi in supporting anaerobic glycolysis, which has been a mystery for a long time, said Thomas Baden, a neuroscientist at the Un… [+4234 chars]

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