Category Archives: The brain and visual perception
Oliver Sacks
More sad news. Oliver Sacks has just died. There is a moving TED blog here.
Marl Twain and the Catching Reflex
Somewhere in Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain there is a famous episode where Huck, a boy, masquerades as a girl. Wanting somewhere to stay, he is taken in by a Mrs Loftus, but after a while as they talk she … Continue reading
A Tale Of Two Polychromats
This gorgeous but rather disturbing creature is a mantis shrimp. It looks like an alien being, and indeed it has superpowers! But it’s not an alien. Nor a mantis. Nor a shrimp. But it looks a little bit like … Continue reading
The Colour of Nothing
Recently Belgian Artist Frederik De Wilde exhibited a square blacker than any human being has ever seen before. Blackboards look black but actually reflect as much as 10% of the light falling on them. De Wilde’s black square reflects 0.01% … Continue reading
Smellacious Gardens Oh You Blind
I refreshed my potpourri with lavender just yesterday, and was suddenly telewafted back to a garden for the blind, a little garden I once knew well. I think it was called a ‘Fragrant Garden for the Blind’ or something like … Continue reading
How’s The Mincers?
Recently a friend asked, “How’s the mincers?” “The mincers are good”, I replied. “But there’s no improvement in the watch and chain.” It’s Cockney rhyming slang. Mincers=mince pies=eyes. Watch and chain=brain. I get the same question most days (although not … Continue reading
The Big Spoon, The Little Spoon and The Extra D: Experiment 14/101
Our retinas are flat and 2D, surfaces not solids. But human beings perceive the world vividly in 3D. How can it be? Where does the extra D come from? An excellent online article by David Hubel lists a whole range … Continue reading
