Sight in the womb

When do humans begin to interact with the world, and develop our sense of self? When we are born? Or might it start even earlier than that? Our visual systems are a key way that we perceive the world. New findings from the University of Waikato have shown that light can enter the womb and that we might already be learning about the world before we arrive in it. Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more. Learn more: Listen to Our musical minds to learn why, to psychologists, humans’ musical ability is just weird. Like our sense of vision, our ability to hear also involves physical inputs from the world around us combined with the processing and prior knowledge of our brains. But sometimes things can go a bit awry, such as happens for those with tinnitus . Our visual system is evolved for daylight, but what about those creatures that live in the deep darkness, such as squid . Professor Vincent Reid’s early research in this area was covered by RNZ podcast ‘This Way Up’ in 2017. Hear more from William Ray in the award-winning Black Sheep podcast series, or in a recent Our Changing World episode about the Flowers of the Underworld . Guests: Professor Vincent Reid, University of Waikato Associate Professor Jacob Heerikhuisen, University of Waikato William Ray , Janella Espinas, James Espinas Ray Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

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Sight in the womb is an episode from RNZ: Our Changing World by RNZ.

This episode is 00:26:32 long.

This episode was published on Jan 26, 2026.

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