A fantastic chair

In artists Erwin Driessens and Maria Verstappen's installation "Pareidolia," a computer vision system uses facial recognition software to find faces in grains of sand. Of course, "pareidolia" is a trick our brain plays that causes us to see meaningful patterns that aren't really there, like animals in clouds or hidden messages in songs. From the… READ THE REST

  Stare into the black circle in this video to get a lesson in chromatic adaptation from scientist Andrew Steele. This is definitely my favourite optical illusion—it's mind-bendingly effective but infuriatingly ephemeral, vanishing as soon as you try to look straight at it—and a fantastic illustration of how our eyes and brain together conspire so… READ THE REST

Host Deane Hutton from Australia's vintage children's program The Curiosity Show demonstrates the optical illusion called an Ames window. The trapezoid is named after American ophthalmologist Adelbert Ames Jr., who first demonstrated the phenomenon. Ames is probably better known for the Ames room: Ames rooms have been used in a number of music videos and… READ THE REST

When we pick up our phones to shoot a video, most of us aren't looking to craft "The Godfather." We just want something that looks reasonably decent that won't be an embarrassment when it gets posted to YouTube or social media. But while not every video needs to reach Spielbergian levels of production, you might… READ THE REST

Be honest. How many plastic lids are stashed away in your kitchen? No, seriously…how many? Go ahead and check that black hole of a cupboard down there and find out. We'll wait… Was the number up over 20? Over 30? More? Now the second question is…could you even guess at which containers actually fit half… READ THE REST

Music is hugely liberating. And whether you love rock, classical, country, rap or any other genre, there's a real sense of accomplishment when you can sit down in front of a keyboard and hammer out a note-perfect version of a favorite tune. Of course, the only way to get to that point is usually after… READ THE REST