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Why a language gets grammar when nobody designs it: the iterated-learning experiment How does a language get grammar when nobody designs it? In a 2008 experiment, volunteers learned an alien language of 27 random words for pictures, saw only 14… Language4 min read2 Nov Why Russians have two blues: how a colour word can speed up your eyes Russian has two basic words for blue, goluboy (light) and siniy (dark), and in a 2007 experiment Russian speakers were about 124 milliseconds faster at telling… Language4 min read27 Oct Why a siren drops in pitch as it passes: the Doppler effect An ambulance siren sounds high as it comes at you and drops the moment it passes, yet the driver hears one steady note. The trick is in how crests per second… Physics3 min read21 Oct Why a dropped stick can find π: Buffon's needle Drop a stick on a floor of planks and count how often it lands across a seam. The count secretly contains π: for a needle as long as the plank width, the… Maths4 min read21 Oct Why 'The old man the boat' stops you cold: garden-path sentences and a brain that guesses Read "The old man the boat." and your brain probably crashes at the fifth word. It guessed "the old man" was one person and waited for a verb that never came… Language4 min read20 Oct Why you can't tickle yourself (and how a robot can fix that) Every time you move, your brain keeps a copy of the command and uses it to predict what you're about to feel. Sensations that match the prediction get turned… Mind6 min read26 Sep Why traffic jams appear out of nowhere Sometimes a motorway grinds to a halt and then clears up with no crash, roadworks or merge in sight. That's a phantom traffic jam, and it starts with one… Engineering4 min read26 Sep