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This week: Unusual Eyes Edited by: Satuawany  
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This newsletter came about because I was reading The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow. A passage reminded me of something I'd done a little research on before, and I hoped it might interest you, dear readers, as much as it does me.
"Our sun radiates at all wavelengths, but its radiation is most intense in the wavelengths that are visible to us."
From The Grand Design
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I've noticed quite a bit of fantasy fiction that pays attention to eye colors we don't normally find. Red eyes, strikingly violet eyes, swirly-colored eyes and pupils shaped like skulls. When trying to differentiate your fantasy characters from your average human in our world, why not take a moment to wonder how they see, rather than what they see with?
All forms of radiation (including the light our eyes use to see) come in as waves, differing in wavelength. (Something like ripples in a pond.) The wavelengths of radiation, like light, our eyes see happen to be the wavelengths our sun tends to send out the most (as stated in the quote up there.) It's likely our eyes evolved the way they did because of that, and Hawking's not the only one who thinks so.
So what happens on a fantasy world or distant science fiction planet that has a sun that puts out different wavelengths more intensely? Superman's X-ray vision is almost a model for this kind of possibility. The problem there is that Superman didn't have his powers on his home planet. (He only had them on Earth.)
If that were truer to form, we would say that the sun in Krypton's system put out intense X-rays (and that the living beings of Krypton managed to evolve as to withstand intense X-rays without developing all kinds of lovely birth defects and cancers. But hey, maybe they have some fortuitous atmospheric thing going on.) If Superman's eyes had evolved to see using those wavelengths, he should be able to see using X-rays very well on Krypton. But what kind of philosophies and stories would a civilization tell, what kinds of relationships do they have, when they can see through one another? Just by pondering how a species sees can give you all kinds of world-building and culture-building ideas.
The other thing that would be different about Superman is how he sees on Earth. In this theoretical situation (and evolution) of Superman, his sun's X-ray radiation is much more intense than that of our sun. So when he got to Earth, his X-ray vision wouldn't be able to work as well as it had on Krypton.
That's something to consider when you have characters that travel to different worlds, via fantasy or science fiction (or even horror) methods. Lots of writers take atmospheric differences into consideration, but what about solar radiation differences? I mean, it's nice to have the right mix of nitrogen and oxygen and all that mess, but breathing's going to be hard anyway if your characters get cooked by a sun emitting large amounts of microwaves.
Depending on the sun and at what wavelengths it radiates most intensely, you could have people seeing in infrared, by heat vision (Predator fans in the house?), or even radio waves. How much fun would that be to figure out?
One of the challenges you're going to run into is coming up with creatures that can survive planets that get huge doses of other radiation wavelengths. And that includes plants, with their dependency upon our sun's parameters for photosynthesis. You can get away with some by considering atmospheric conditions, or you can even leave it as a mystery, if you present it just right. There's so much we don't know about our universe; how can we expect the inhabitants of another to know all about theirs?
That's all pretty out there and fun to think about, but it can drastically change what ideas you had about your characters' world. It doesn't have to be drastic, though. Just a slight shift in the spectrum of a sun's most intense wavelengths can give you people who see a few more colors than most of the people on Earth. (I say "most of" because there are some people who already do see more colors than your average person. Their eyes are evolved to pick up more wavelengths than ours.)
The science world is always putting fodder out for the writer who's paying attention. Many science fiction writers know this, but maybe it's time for more fantasy writers to realize it as well. Get out there and check out some of the scientific laws, and some of the newest theories. Have fun with them, figuring out the best and most fantastical ways to turn them on their heads.
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This contest isn't running, but the contest body lists some good questions aimed at those creating a culture. Definitely worth a look-see, just for that.
Looks like this forum has been inactive for some time, but wouldn't it be great to see some life in it?
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Really get your creative juices flowing, on both writing and reviewing. It's that time of year for this multi-round contest.
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Check out some magic realism, and maybe try creating some.
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Trek fans, live long and prosper together in this forum. Engage!
I know I've plugged these guys before, but it bears repeating. You can get in there and discuss aspects of science fiction, even if you're not signed up for the newsletter.
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Now how about challenging yourself and getting really scientific about it?
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Fantasy: August 24, 2011 Issue [#4579]
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