Scientific American is doing a whole issue on optical illusions and they've got a sampling up on their website as a slideshow. It's interesting to see how some illusions are created by physical tricks of the eyes, while others are, apparently, psychological in nature. This illusion, for instance, is supposed to be influenced by the way sexual maturity changes your frame of mind—kids see dolphins and grown-ups see, well, sex.
Mike Oldfield recorded the classic Tubular Bells in the early 1970s at Richard Branson's studio in Shipton-on-Cherwell, England. About an hour away from there was a huge wireless transmitter called Rugby Radio where, among other broadcasts, the UK government delivered very-low-frequency (VLF) transmissions to submarines. Turns out, a 16 kilohertz signal—Morse code of the station's… READ THE REST
Grichka and Igor Bogdanoff, twin "scientists" whose reputations shrank as their faces grew, are dead of Covid. The brothers later tried their hands at academic work, writing doctoral theses in mathematics and theoretical physics which were both panned by their peers. Ridiculed by sections of French media, they won a 2014 court case for defamation… READ THE REST
These are the top three winners in the 2021 Best Illusion of the Year contest, orchestrated by the Neural Correlate Society—a nonprofit that "promotes scientific research into the neural correlates of perception and cognition." "How we see the outside world―our perception―is generated indirectly by brain mechanisms, and so all perception is illusory to some extent,"… READ THE REST
We thank our sponsor for making this content possible; it is not written by the editorial staff nor does it necessarily reflect its views. Tax season begins soon, and like years before, many consumers are gearing up to use their tax returns to buy the latest tech. For example, tech lovers have a reason to… READ THE REST
We thank our sponsor for making this content possible; it is not written by the editorial staff nor does it necessarily reflect its views. If you've got a fuzzy feline friend at home, you know how important it is to keep them active and stimulate their curiosity. They can get bored quickly of stationary toys, and… READ THE REST
