ScienceAugust 16, 2026

photopic

foh-TOP-ik

Definition

Relating to vision under conditions of bright or daylight illumination, characterized by the use of retinal cone cells.

Etymology

Derived from the Greek 'phōs' (light) and 'ōps' (eye or face). It was coined in the late 19th century to describe the light-adapted functioning of the human eye.

In the news

In the article, the term is used to describe a specific analysis of how daylight behaves when passing through window glass, distinguishing standard brightness measurements from circadian-specific ones.

Morning sunlight can reset the body clock surprisingly quickly because outdoor light is vastly brighter than most indoor environments — but the popular five-minute rule isn't a proven biological threshold, and window glass weakens the signal rather than blocki

Read the full article ↗

ScienceBlog.com

Related words

Learn words like this every day

Meet new words every morning.

Newspoken pulls carefully chosen words from the day’s news — with clear definitions, context, and light review that makes them stick. Get it on your phone.