5 Ways Your Brain Is Messing With Your Head We accept on a regular basis the premise that our minds are being screwed with. Advertisers, politicians, magicians; we accept that they know the tricks to pull the wool over our eyes. But as it turns out, the ways in which your head is being truly and royally messed with the most, are coming from inside. Please be advised that your brain does not want you reading the following list, and may kill you to protect its secrets. #5. What is it? It's your inability to notice changes that happen right in front of you, even if they're hugely obvious... as long as you don't see the actual change take place. Um, What? Consider Alfonso Ribeiro. Now, if suddenly that image of Carlton blinked and changed to a different image, you'd notice it. In fact, if the entire text of this article--and the whole color and layout of this website--changed while you were gone, you probably wouldn't notice. A scientist named George McConkie started working on this in the 70s. Why Does the Brain Lie About it? #4. #3.
5 Mind-Blowing Ways Your Senses Lie to You Every Day We are so completely dependent on our five senses every moment of the day that we totally forget how full of shit they can be. Your reality is cobbled together from a bunch of different parts of your brain working in conjunction, and often it's like a bickering conference room full of uncooperative co-workers. In fact, we're pretty sure the thing your brain does best is convince you that it works. But it doesn't take much to spot the bizarre little flaws in your gray matter. For example ... #5. Photos.com/AbleStock.com/Getty Images When you hear someone talk, the whole process is pretty straightforward, right? Short answer: your eyes. In the clip, you see (and hear) a guy saying "bah bah bah" over and over. BBCYour brain also gave the "fah" version a tan, for unknown reasons. This illusion is called the McGurk effect, and the creepiest part is that, even knowing know full well what's going on, you can't get your ears to hear the correct sound. #4. Oleksandr Pekur/Photos.com Wait, no. #3.
Does the head remain briefly conscious after decapitation (revisited)? A Straight Dope Classic from Cecil's Storehouse of Human Knowledge June 12, 1998 Dear Cecil: In the answer about the guillotine in your online archive, you say that "the fatal blow induces immediate unconsciousness." In actuality, the human head does remain conscious fifteen to twenty seconds after decapitation. — Joel Brusk, via AOL Dear Joel: Let's see. A lot of people disputed my claim that victims of the guillotine blacked out immediately. Not likely. But let's return to the original question, appalling though it may be: Is a severed head aware of its fate? It doesn't get any better. Is it possible? Then I received a note from a U.S. My friend's head came to rest face up, and (from my angle) upside-down. I've spoken with the author and am satisfied the event occurred as described. — Cecil Adams
3D map of human brain is the most detailed ever - health - 20 June 2013 The folds, creases and intricate internal structures that make up the human brain are being revealed in unprecedented detail. A new three-dimensional map called BigBrain is the most detailed ever constructed, and should lead to a more accurate picture of how the brain's different regions function and interact. Until now, the precise placement of the neurons that make up our brain circuitry has been difficult to map, largely because the human brain's surface is covered with folds and creases. Slicing a brain exposes only two dimensions, so it is often unclear where and how the cells within these folds are organised in three-dimensional space. To make the new map, Katrin Amunts of the Jülich Research Centre in Germany and her colleagues embedded a 65-year old woman's brain in wax, sliced it into more than 7400 sections each 20 micrometres thick – one-fifth of the width of a human hair – and made digital images of the slices, also at a resolution of 20 micrometres. Tour de force
5 Things You Can Do Right Now to Become Instantly Smarter There might not be a worse feeling than when you have some kind of huge project due and the creative part of your brain just slowly grinds to a halt. Some people have little rituals they go through to try to jump-start their muse, from "take a relaxing walk" to "steal someone else's idea and then secretly murder them." But why not look to science to figure out what actually works? Well, we don't guarantee that any of the below will work for you -- all we can say is that smarter people than us have gotten them to work under scientifically controlled conditions. They also happen to cost absolutely nothing, so if you need to force you brain to start thinking outside the box, try to ... #5. Andrea Chu/Digital Vision/Getty Images When it comes to solving problems, we like to think we know how to get the best results out of ourselves. Well, science is here to do what science does best and tell us that we're doing it all wrong. Thomas Northcut/Lifesize/Getty Images"4 p.m. already? #4. #3.
5 Mind-Blowing Ways Your Senses Lie to You Every Day #2. Your Brain Changes the Size of Objects Around You Yuliya Chsherbakova/Photos.com Your eyes are lying to you right now about something as basic as the size of the stuff you're looking at. Mighty Optical IllusionsSpoiler: You're about to feel dumb. If you answered the one on the right, congratulations, you're completely normal, and also completely wrong. Mighty Optical Illusions They're the exact same size. The above photograph is an example of the Ponzo illusion, which occurs when an image's context tricks your brain into seeing size differences. QuiaPoint all you want, kid, it'll always be shorter. So where have you seen this type of illusion in real life? If you see four at the same time, though, you probably need new glasses. But here's the weirdest part: Because these illusions are based on context, how badly they fool you depends on what you're used to seeing ... meaning that city dwellers are more vulnerable to being tricked. #1. Jupiterimages/Photos.com The answer is: you.
Mind-reading monkey brains look similar to ours - life - 15 June 2013 MONKEYS may have a primitive version of the human ability to put ourselves in another's shoes. Intelligent animals such as apes can intuit others' intentions, suggesting they have some theory of mind capability. To study this difference, Rogier Mars of the University of Oxford and colleagues scanned 36 people's brains. Next, the researchers scanned 12 macaque brains for a similar pattern of connections. That doesn't necessarily mean the structures share a function, Mars says. Laurie Santos of Yale University says the structural differences may one day tell us why non-human primates lack the ability to think about others' beliefs. This article appeared in print under the headline "Monkeys in other monkeys' shoes" New Scientist Not just a website! More From New Scientist Celery power (New Scientist) Did US spy satellites track Malaysia Flight MH370? Star dust casts doubt on recent big bang wave result (New Scientist) Giant solar farm uses molten salt to keep power coming (New Scientist)
BREAKTHROUGH: DMT Found in the Pineal Gland of Live Rats In a major breakthrough in consciousness and psychedelic studies, Cottonwood Research Foundation has published a paper (soon to appear in the Journal Biomedical Chromatography) documenting the presence of DMT in the brains of living rats. For decades researchers have hypothesized that DMT may be one of the neurochemicals responsible for consciousness, dreams and visionary experiences. It’s certainly responsible for these and ever weirder experiences for those who have smoked it or taken Ayahuasca. Now we have clear proof of DMT being manufactured in the living Pineal Glands of rats, and that the genes responsible for this exist in the Pineal Gland and Retina! From the press release: We’re excited to announce the acceptance for publication of a paper documenting the presence of DMT in the pineal glands of live rodents. More info at Cottonwood Research Foundation
3D map of human brain is the most detailed ever - health - 20 June 2013 The folds, creases and intricate internal structures that make up the human brain are being revealed in unprecedented detail. A new three-dimensional map called BigBrain is the most detailed ever constructed, and should lead to a more accurate picture of how the brain's different regions function and interact. Until now, the precise placement of the neurons that make up our brain circuitry has been difficult to map, largely because the human brain's surface is covered with folds and creases. Slicing a brain exposes only two dimensions, so it is often unclear where and how the cells within these folds are organised in three-dimensional space. To make the new map, Katrin Amunts of the Jülich Research Centre in Germany and her colleagues embedded a 65-year old woman's brain in wax, sliced it into more than 7400 sections each 20 micrometres thick – one-fifth of the width of a human hair – and made digital images of the slices, also at a resolution of 20 micrometres. Tour de force