EduNews Magazine EdUnews May/June 2014 | Page 12

COLOUR ME BLIND S cience has again and again proven to come to our aid in everyday life. This is not less true in the optometric profession. The visual system works entirely on light impulses that consist of a mixture of colours. The way our brains interpret these colours has a huge effect on how we perceive our environment, be it the actual colours themselves or the ease with which we can read about these colours in a book. Our ability to discern between these different wavelengths of light is inherently determined by our genes. Should you be a woman, this will not have much impact on you, as your double X chromosome makes that your chance on colour-blindness1 is less than IK