How to draw a 3D cube illusion on graph paper

Back in August of last year, Andrea posted a piece about the Ames window illusion (and Ames rooms). In this Veritasium video from a few days ago, they set up some very trippy demonstrations of this amazing optical illusion in action. My jaw literally dropped several times. Image: YouTube READ THE REST

Michael Bach a scientist of visual function, and he made a clever site that shows off 141 optical illusions — using interactive doodads that let you tweak different parts of the illusion, to figure at what point the illusion breaks. This interactivity, these breakpoints, turn out to be incredibly useful in grasping the quirks of… READ THE REST

The circles are rotating, to be sure, but are they moving in the direction of the arrows? (Via Core 77) READ THE REST

When was the last time you sat down and actually wrote something with a pen? Not just an appointment reminder or a three-word note, but an actual written document with sentences and paragraphs and stuff? We're willing to wager that it's probably been a very long time. While keyboards and digital devices have pushed physical… READ THE REST

For decades in film and TV, we've been tantalized by the idea that one day soon, robots will step up to become a child's indispensable learning and emotional support companion. Thanks to advances in artificial intelligence, we're getting closer to the possibility of that day, although it's hard to imagine a human teacher ever being… READ THE REST

Now that we're all way too accustomed to remote video meetings, you're probably noticing some alarming patterns, like how some of your co-workers position their cameras in very funky places. Or how people can't seem to get their technical issues in order, then talk all over each other when they do. If you're experiencing video… READ THE REST