Re: sky, polarization, & retinas

[brian whatcott <inet@INTELLISYS.NET>]

At 19:50 6/17/99 -0700, you wrote:
> ...
> The blue sky on a clear day contains partially polarized light.  If you go
> outside with a sheet of polaroid plastic, you can rotate it while looking
> at the blue sky, and a particular zone in the sky will become dim and
> bright.  This zone forms a huge band which arches across the sky at 90
> degrees from the location of the sun.
> ... I never heard that the whole
> retina was polarization-sensitive....
> William J. Beaty

I can't speak to the human sense, but during the search for the bases of
the avian navigation sense, it was demonstrated that birds can orient to the
polarization characteristic of sunlight.
 I fancy I have read something of the kind for bees' orientation too.

brian whatcott <inet@intellisys.net>
Altus OK