Albert Rich (Member 47,505) has a brother Tom, who suffers from macular degeneration, which affects his sight so badly that, as he puts it, his surroundings look ‘akin to a Matisse surrealist painting’. Tom Rich has noticed, however, that the things he can see with absolute clarity are clouds.

He gives a reason for why they stand out in this way. ‘The center of many clouds is dark and formless,’ he explains, ‘while the periphery is white, detailed, and sharp. That fits almost perfectly with the center of my vision being quite marginal, while the periphery is not too different from how it was a decade ago, when I had normal vision…. When traveling, I spend most of my time gazing at clouds. They are pleasantly sharp, as I see them.’