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Why the same circle looks smaller among big ones: the Ebbinghaus illusion and size contrast Two identical orange circles, one ringed by big circles and one by small ones, and your eyes insist they differ. That is the Ebbinghaus illusion: your visual… Mind4 min read1 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 still rocks creep upward after you stare at a waterfall: the motion aftereffect Stare at a waterfall, then look at the rocks beside it, and they seem to crawl upward. They go nowhere, yet they move. This is the motion aftereffect, noticed… Mind3 min read26 Oct Why a dot vanishes when you look away from it: the blind spot where the optic nerve exits Close one eye, stare at a cross, and a dot a hand's width away simply vanishes. That is your blind spot: the place where the optic nerve leaves each eye, with… Mind4 min read19 Oct Why a blink of blank screen hides big changes: change blindness Show someone two nearly identical pictures with a blink of blank screen between them, and a large change can stay hidden for many seconds. This is change… Mind4 min read12 Oct Why the same sound is a b to English ears and a p to Spanish ears Say "bat" and "pat". The only physical difference is a tiny delay between your lips opening and your vocal cords buzzing, about 12 milliseconds for an English… Language3 min read4 Oct Every eye has a hole in its vision, and your brain paints over it Every one of your eyes has a hole in its vision, about ten Moons wide, and you have never seen it. It is where the optic nerve leaves the retina, a patch with… Mind3 min read3 Oct Why everyone agrees which blob is 'bouba' and which is 'kiki' Show people a soft blob and a spiky star and ask which one is bouba and which is kiki. The words are made up, yet in the classic version of the test about 95%… Language5 min read27 Sep Why one more candle lights a dark room but vanishes in a bright one Add one candle to a dark room and everything changes. Add one to a room with a hundred and nobody notices. Your senses don't measure differences in amounts… Mind5 min read27 Sep 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