Your brain is lying to you right now. Not maliciously, and not because something’s wrong with it. It’s doing exactly what evolution designed it to do, making split-second decisions about the world ...

A grayscale ballerina who appears to be moving. A human who can fit in a doll box. A black-and-white prism which appear to change shape when viewed from three different directions. Those are the top ...

It's time now for our science news roundup from Short Wave, NPR's science podcast. I am joined by the show's host, Regina Barber, and producer Rachel Carlson. Good to have you both here. RACHEL ...

Duping a guppy is easier than duping a ring dove — at least when it comes to a classic optical illusion. In the Ebbinghaus illusion, two identical circles placed side by side are each framed by a set ...

It’s always amazing, and more than a little humbling, when the universe reminds us that our “common sense” is provincial, falling apart on cosmic scales. If you’re on the surface of Earth—and I’m ...

The regular Short Wave science roundup covers mysterious red dots in space, the neurons behind optical illusions and a study of octopus arms. It's time now for our science news roundup from Short Wave ...

A grayscale ballerina who appears to be moving. A human who can fit in a doll box. A black-and-white prism that appears to change shape when... Optical illusions are a brain feature, not a bug. Here's ...