Text written in Basque and translated automatically by Elia without any subsequent editing. SEE ORIGINAL

The whale's eye

Helena brought the first one. at the beginning of February 2019, on the beach of Atxabiribil, in Sopela, an 18-metre, 30-tonne horse appeared in agony. Another Elena came by as soon as she knew it. He wanted that whale's eye.

Elena Vecino Cordero is director of the Research Group on Ophthalmo-Experimental Biology GOBE of the UPV/EHU. They have been researching the eyes of humans and many other animals for years, but it was the first time they had the opportunity to take the eye of a whale to the laboratory. It was also an exceptional opportunity, since the whale had just died and the laboratory was very close. Although only one eye remained, it was in very good condition; the retinal neurons were still alive. They had everything ready in the lab to grow the neurons in the pig's eye, and they introduced the whale's. And they managed to grow the whale's neurons.

They found that these neurons are twice as large as humans, but they have relatively few, so they won’t see it in great detail. And they'll see what they see in black and white, because they don't have cones in their retina. Instead, they make a good distinction between when it is night and when it is day, since they have well-developed melanopsin cells, which are responsible for the circadian rhythm.

The axons of the whale neurons are very long, they could be up to 3 mm (the human ones are 10 cm at most), and they wanted to know how these axons get so long. The answer was found in Müller's cells. These cells are responsible for the care and feeding of retinal neurons. And when they put the mouse neurons in the lab together with the whale Müller cells, they saw that the axons of the neurons grew 100 times more than normal.

in January 2020, another storyteller, Filomena, brought the second option: another whale, in Asturias, on the beach of Serantes. In this case they also got an eye that was in good condition. In addition to confirming everything found with the first eye, Müller's cells were immortalized so that further research could be carried out.

Realizing how beautiful the photos they took for research were, they decided to make an exhibition.

And, as eye specialists, they have attached great importance to the adaptation of the exhibition for those with visual problems. The photos are matte so that the reflections do not prevent the details from being seen correctly, positioning them in a way that allows them to get very close and see those details well. The images have also been printed in relief so that they can be touched, and the explanatory tables have been written in Braille. There is also an audio guide that explains each image. And also a pododactil tape to walk through the room.

Vecino is making a great effort to socialize research. Three children ' s animation videos have also been produced and made available online.

On these pages you can see some of the images of the exhibition. And you also have the opportunity to see the same exhibition: from the 11th of June to the middle of September at the Itsasmuseum in Bilbao.