[2020-3030]

In addition to the other comments, what interested me about the findings mentioned in the 2016 quantamag article was the shared problem solving required to answer Joe Corbo's sense that there was a pattern to be found in the distribution of retinal cells.

To conclusively identify the pattern, the biologists needed to contact a theoretical chemist who studied optimal object packing density. Looking at the rest of that 2016 article shows the possible shared mechanisms and mathematics behind not just the hyperuniformity found in chicken retinas, but the same packing phenomena in other systems/objects. It is exciting to find organizational principles which can be seen in many different systems.

The other elements I like are that any study of receptors and neural organization, connection, and communication is that this outside-in approach ties in with study of the whole visual system and can connect other neurophysiological and cognitive findings. Not only is this relevant for some specialists, but many people are curious about the conscious experiences and capabilities of other species so learning about this may generate popular interest depending on the findings.

As a commentator (twic) mentions below, one of his colleagues did not care about the receptor packing patterns in her data. However, what one person ignores or deems a waste of time, another can pick up and use. Somewhere out there is a graduate student who is frantically looking for a finding to publish so I bet someone would be interested in looking at the control, visualization, quantification, or prediction of receptor spacing. I don't work at the cellular level, but this sounds fundamental. Mr. Twic - any reason not hand off your observation to an undergraduate or other interested party?