Video Description
Check this out: Here’s a grid, nothing special, just a basic grid, very grid-y. But look closer, into this white spot at the center where the two central vertical and horizontal lines intersect. Look very closely. Notice anything funny about this spot? Yeah, nothing. But keep looking. Get weird and stare at it. Now, keeping …
How optical illusions trick your brain – Nathan S. Jacobs 더 보기 »
Imagine if half the people in your neighborhood, your city, or even your whole country were wiped out. It might sound like something out of an apocalyptic horror film, but it actually happened in the 14th century during a disease outbreak known as the Black Death. Spreading from China through Asia, the Middle East, Africa …
The past, present and future of the bubonic plague – Sharon N. DeWitte 더 보기 »
They call me the tornado chaser. When the wind is up and conditions are right, I get in my car and follow violent storms. “Crazy,” you say? Perhaps, but really I chase these sky beasts to learn about them. I want to share with you what I know. Tornadoes are rapidly rotating columns of air …
Consider throwing a ball straight into the air. Can you predict the motion of the ball after it leaves your hand? Sure, that’s easy. The ball will move upward until it gets to some highest point, then it will come back down and land in your hand again. Of course, that’s what happens, and you …
What can Schrödinger’s cat teach us about quantum mechanics? – Josh Samani 더 보기 »
Testing, testing, one, two, three. When your band is trying to perform, feedback is an annoying obstacle, but in the grand orchestra of nature, feedback is not only beneficial, it’s what makes everything work. What exactly is feedback? The key element, whether in sound, the environment or social science, is a phenomenon called mutual causal …
Feedback loops: How nature gets its rhythms – Anje-Margriet Neutel 더 보기 »
On September 1st, 1953, William Scoville used a hand crank and a cheap drill saw to bore into a young man’s skull, cutting away vital pieces of his brain and sucking them out through a metal tube. But this wasn’t a scene from a horror film or a gruesome police report. Dr. Scoville was one …
What happens when you remove the hippocampus? – Sam Kean 더 보기 »
How many times does the chorus repeat in your favorite song? And, take a moment to think, how many times have you listened to it? Chances are you’ve heard that chorus repeated dozens, if not hundreds, of times, and it’s not just popular songs in the West that repeat a lot. Repetition is a feature …
Why we love repetition in music – Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis 더 보기 »
If I say, “Venice,” do you imagine yourself gliding down the Grand Canal, serenaded by a gondolier? There’s no doubt that the gondola is a symbol of Venice, Italy, but how did this curious banana-shaped black boat get its distinctive look? History The origins of the Venetian gondola are lost to history, but by the …
Corruption, wealth and beauty: The history of the Venetian gondola – Laura Morelli 더 보기 »
Flatulence, or passing gas, is a normal daily phenomenon. Most individuals, yes, that includes you, will make anywhere from 500-1500 milliliters of gas and can pass gas ten to twenty times a day. But where does this bodily gas come from? A small proportion may come from ingesting air during sleep, or at other times, …
So you just strained a muscle and the inflammation is unbearable. You wish you had something ice-cold to dull the pain, but to use an ice pack, you would have had to put it in the freezer hours ago. Fortunately, there’s another option. A cold pack can be left at room temperature until the moment …
